


Fight Like You're Running Out of Time

by ImmaDoAThing



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alien Invasion, Aliens, Alternate Universe - Future, Angst, F/F, F/M, Just Bear With Me, M/M, Multi, Race Issues, Science Fiction, Space Battles, but it turned really dark all of a sudden, i know I'm a horrible person okay?, im gonna intersperse the angst with fluff i promise, this was supposed to be a fun fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-18
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-08-31 15:10:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 39,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8583124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImmaDoAThing/pseuds/ImmaDoAThing
Summary: In the year 2079, a few races of peaceful aliens found their way to Earth. After the initial (inevitable) human freak-out, the aliens and humans were able to live, mostly, in peace. However, the arrival of the first wave of Extraterrestrial Visitors had set people on edge. Fifty years later, using a combination of human and alien technology, a safety network is ready to be put into place around the Earth Solar System and it's various space colonies. The Early Alien Detection Network, EADN, is set to be finished in five years, but what if the next wave of visitors doesn't want to wait?





	1. More than anything in this life.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I'm new here, hello! I'm ImmaDoAThing. I used to write fanfic in high school, but lost interest… However, I recently discovered Hamilton An American Musical, and Hamilton fanfic, and what can I say? I'm total HamilTrash. 
> 
> I'm going to try and keep myself on a schedule of one chapter a week, updates on Thursdays. No real idea how long each chapter is going to be, I just end them where it feels right. 
> 
> Hopefully you all like this… I'm super nervous.

There were times when John Laurens loved his partner more than anything in this life… Absolutely adored the man would do anything for him. This moment however was not one of those times.

John sat awkwardly across from his boss, the coffee table between them filled with glasses of still steaming tea and a few stacks of file folders. It wasn’t too unusual for General George Washington, commander of the Earth United System Space Fleet, to arrive at their home before going to work. John considered the General a friend. General Washington apparently returned the sentiment. Over the last five years, the General had been stopping by more and more often to get advice, or just talk, or give his highest ranking staff members a heads up on what was going to be thrown at them that day. It was almost a ritual: wake up, coffee for himself, start breakfast for three, make tea for the general and himself after the coffee had started it’s work.

Today, George was there to set them a task.

Today was also the day that Alexander Hamilton, John’s partner, had decided to run streaking through the house with his pants around his ankles wailing at the top of his lungs about forgetting to stock the master bathroom with toilet paper.

George just stared at the wall while Alex continued his tirade, “John! I can’t freaking believe that I did it again! Damn it!” 

John could. 

“One of these days, John, I hope I learn my lesson.” 

John could honestly say he hoped the same thing.

“Hey, shouldn’t we be getting ready for work?”

“We have company, dearest.” John allowed his restraint to slip as he called out to his partner. The pet name strained. 

Alex’s head popped around the doorframe, “General!” He returned to the guest bathroom to wash his hands, by the sound of the running faucet, before coming back into the living room. “How are you today, sir? I hope Martha is well?”

Because Alexander Hamilton was just as able to modify the flight pattern of a Space ship the size of the Whitehouse through a meteor field on the fly, as he was to completely ignore the embarrassment he created in his wake. The little shit even winked at John as he held a hand out for Washington to shake.

Although Washington shook his hand and sat back down, John distinctly heard the man mutter under his breath “And he wonders why I won’t give him full command of a ship…” John decided not to comment and allowed the General to cover his aside with a groan before responding to Alex’s inquiry after his wife. “Trying to run a damn country and not kill the damn idiots who run the other ones. They want us leave six months ahead of schedule, and of course, we can’t really give them a reason why not. What with all your hard work, we actually are six months ahead of schedule.”

Because only Alexander Hamilton would refuse to call General George Washington anything but his title or ‘sir’ and insist on calling the President of the United States of America by her first name. John could feel a headache coming on as he fought to keep from rolling his eyes for what felt like the thousandth time that morning.

“We do still need to fill in the last few positions on the ship before we can embark, though.” Washington continued.

“I think we can survive without five people, sir.” Alex responded with a little laugh.

“Fifty men and women backed out this morning after receiving the message that we are shipping out early.” Washington cut Alex off. At Alex and John’s reactions of surprise he shook his head and continued, “Its all to be expected, though, five plus years in space is a hefty commission to sign on to. One of the reasons I'm so lenient on the civilians at least. But the matter stands that the Revolution needs fifty-five, space ready bodies with the skills we need for this mission. I feel sorry for Captain Jefferson though, he still has over two hundred positions to fill and now six months less to fill them.” He tapped the nearest stack of folders, and ignored Alex’s muttered ‘Maybe if the man wasn’t so much of an ass, people would want to be on his ship.’ “We can get twenty from the Ganymede Military Base when we swing by Jupiter, but thirty five have to be on the ship in two months. I’d give the task to Green and Burr, but you know how long it takes the two of them to come to an agreement.”

“They both won’t be happy about being left out of the personnel decisions.” John said referencing the EUSSF Revolution’s Chief of Staff and his lead personnel officer.

“But it takes Burr forever to make a decision,” Alex said, already pulling a folder from the nearest stack. “I asked him if he preferred a tuna sandwich or turkey the other day for lunch and I swear to god it was like I was asking him which of his vital organs he’s least attached to so I could have it removed.”

“Take the rest of the morning to review the files and send me the list, sons.” General Washington said, seeing that the task was already well in hand he stood as he checked his watch. He was out of the house before John could think to rise and see him out. 

***

“I think this one looks promising.” It was two hours later and John felt like he was drowning in sheets of Plasfilm that seemed to breed every time he blinked.

Alex, of course was in his element. He had no less than six files open, scanning between them all at once. He closed two and put them on the large ‘no’ pile, three more he placed on a smaller ‘needs a second look if we get to the end of the files with less people than we need’ pile and the last one Alexander rose up to his nose in order to look at more closely. “Hmm?”

“This Schuyler girl.” John said. “I think we should add her to the yes stack.”

“I was just looking at her file. I agree.” Alex responded in his distracted ‘I'm thinking about 27 different things but want to be a good boyfriend and acknowledge that you are speaking’ voice. John rolled his eyes. Not looking up from his file Alex continued, “She has degrees in Navigation and Maritime/ Spacetime Science, Political Science, and Engineering, and she’s been piloting shuttles for the space stations for three years.”

“Alex, dearest, what file are you looking at? Schuyler studied medicine at Harvard and did her residency at Duke University Hospital. She was able to reattach a man’s entire arm using a surgery technique she developed herself without so much as a scar and the patient still retains full mobility. There is nothing in her file about piloting. Although she is already cleared to go off planet…” John trailed off as he pulled up the Holo-Image of Elizabeth Schuler’s resume on their projector. “See, here. Look at this.”

Alex was also pulling up his own file with his infuriating ‘I'm-right-and-you’re-wrong’ grin. “Angelica Schuyler, currently a pilot for the New Savannah Space Port. Degrees in Navigation and Maritime/ Spacetime Science, Political Science, and Engineering. Cross country athlete, valedictorian, and arm wrestling champion of 2128.” Alex raised an eyebrow at that last bit but still looked at his partner with an ‘I won’ look on his face.

John looked at both projections, not wanting to give the infuriating man the satisfaction. Brows furrowed, he muttered, “These aren’t the same woman.”

The triumph on Alex’s face faltered. He finally looked at both screens. “Well, shit.”

John smiled, pulling both files off the projector and placing them on the ‘yes’ pile. “Numbers 34 and 35. With the addition of the Schuyler sisters, we are officially staffed.”


	2. Haven’t Slept In a Week

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I made it to week 2! Hopefully someone is with me here. Lol.
> 
> So currently the plan is to make this a 10-chapter work. It may end up longer depending on where the story decides to go. It will definitely be at least 10 chapters though; I have enough ideas for ten. We’ll see how it goes. 
> 
> Also I would like to point out that the acronym for this story is FLYROOT… Which I find hilarious!
> 
> Also, as well, happy holiday week! I decided that because of Thanksgiving, I would post twice this week. Yay! So this is in addition to the chapter that I will be posting on Thursday! Hope you enjoy!

“I can’t believe we are actually going to be on the same ship as General George Washington! He led the army in the Jupiter Rebellion, actually led them into battle. He didn’t just sit in his flagship and order his men. He led them!” Margaret ‘Peggy’ Schuyler was practically bouncing in her seat as the space shuttle she was on broke through another layer of the Earth’s atmosphere. “I mean you guys get to stay on for the whole mission, whereas I have to stay on Ganymede Base once we get there… But three months on a ship with the General George Washington!!!! This is the literal coolest!”

Her sisters, Angelica and Eliza, were in the seats on either side of her. Angelica was reviewing spec sheets of the EUSSF Revolution, the ship that would be her and Eliza’s home for the next five years. Peggy reached out to tap the projection tab on the Plasfilm sheet that was on top of the stack in her sister’s hands. The miniature hologram flickered to life showing the impressive ship. Angelica chuckled and passed the sheet to Peggy, the other girl’s eyes glued to the projection. 

The ship was gorgeous, in Peggy’s opinion. The traditional white and black ceramic tile reminiscent of the late 20th and early 21st century space shuttles covering and protecting tons of metal and contraptions designed to move the massive structure through space and make living on it safe for humans. To Peggy, it looked kind of like a grain of rice with a halo around it about three quarters down the ship. The most wondrous holy rice in the entire universe. The halo housed four large engines, barracks, cargo bays, science and medical labs. But less than half of the barracks, labs, and storage bays were housed in the halo, the rest were in the main ship itself, along with five more engines. Space for over 100,000 men and women and the equipment needed for their mission.

Peggy wiggled happily again, only to have her other sister grab her wrist in a death grip as the ship jumped as they broke through the last of Earth’s gravitational pull.

“I can’t believe the two of you sent my resume in to the Space Fleet.” A slightly green Eliza muttered glaring at Angelica and Peggy. 

“I can’t believe you actually got on this shuttle.” Peggy mused.

“I can’t believe you agreed to join the expedition in the first place.” Angelica responded, putting her papers away and giving her sisters her full attention. “You could have said ‘no.’”

“And have mother and father look at me like the biggest disappointment since World War III because I wasn’t ‘living up to my potential’? ‘Seizing every opportunity?’ 

“’Stamping the Schuyler name across history!’” All three of them finished their father’s traditional pep talk imitating the strident tones that had made Phillip Schuyler one of the youngest senators in two decades and kept him in the United Earth System Senate for even longer.

“No thank you.” Eliza continued, glad for her sister’s distraction. Once she was on the ship, she should be able to ignore the fact that she was actually off the planet she had been born on. It was just hard to ignore that fact that they were hurdling through space on the back of a giant fossil-fueled explosive. “Why couldn’t we have taken another ship to get us out to the space station? This relic looks like it will shake apart at any minute.”

Angelica laughed at her sister’s whining. “Because all of the other ships were unavailable in the timeframe. The expedition is commandeering all MagLift ships to ferry supplies to the Revolution and the other five ships. And this ship isn’t that much of a relic.”

“It still runs on fossil-fuels.” Eliza said as if that explained exactly why this thing should have been in mothballs.

“Its based on the classic designs of the early 21st century, its retro.” Angelica replied.

“Fossil-Fuels.” Eliza returned, resolute.

“Once we get on the ship, you’ll be so focused on setting up your med lab that you won’t even notice when the expedition actually begins!” Peggy grabbed Eliza’s hand and gave it a squeeze. 

“I sincerely hope so.” Eliza replied and ran her sweaty palms against her pants. 

***

“Welcome aboard the EUSSF Revolution,” the man standing at the front of the conference room was of medium height, green eyes, his skin liberally freckled, with curly hair currently tied neatly back. He, like the surly man in his late forties standing next to him, looked a little worse for wear Angelica mused. But that was to be expected when in charge of an expedition of this magnitude. “My name is John Laurens, I am one of the chief science officers on this expedition. You should each have bunk assignments, a map of the ship and a tentative schedule for the next few days before we depart. They have been emailed to each of you individually. Nathanael Green,” he motioned to the other man, “and myself are available for any conflicts in assignments.”

“Call me Nate.” The other man said gruffly. “And if you think that you can go to any of the other chief staff members to whine, I can assure you that you’ll have better luck dealing with my charming personality than them. Knox won’t even look at ya, if ya ain’t a military type; Burr is good for a great many things, but not making quick decisions; and Hamilton—“

Speak of the devil and, well you know the rest. Angelica knew of Alexander Hamilton, the youngest member of General Washington’s personal staff, his second in command, and impressive array of degrees and credits attached to his name. What she wasn’t prepared for was his appearance. 

Although General Washington and the rest of his staff were regularly on the news and in the papers, Hamilton always seemed to miss the cameras. Now he burst into the room like a hurricane, Plasfilm from the stacks in his hands and shoved into his pockets actually fluttering in his wake. He was short, barely five foot five inches, had long dark hair falling out of a messy bun, dark skin, he looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks, let alone days. And most noticeably: he had pointed ears tinged slightly purple at the tips.

“The papers never mentioned he was part alien!” Peggy whispered excitedly from her right. Eliza gave a hard to decipher look from her left. Eliza and their younger Schuyler siblings had never met anyone who wasn’t ‘pure human’ growing up inside one of the Purist Domes. 

Angelica barely remembered the time before her family moved into one of the domes. Her parents wouldn’t have allowed it if the human/alien tensions hadn’t risen so drastically at the beginning of her father’s senate career. Phillip Schuyler believed in living among his constituents. But for the safety of his children he had acquiesced to the requests of his chief of staff and moved the family into a domed community. He still spent all of his time not in the senate among the people, though. In Phillip Schuyler’s house, at least, all sentient beings were created equal. 

Unfortunately, as is the case with most humans, many of the citizens of the domes believed themselves better than those who couldn’t afford to live inside. Pure-er. Those ideologies were what caused much of the tensions. And it was hard to grow up surrounded by bigotry and not begin to think the same way. Closed communities bred closed minds.

Angelica had had a crash course in human/ alien relations her first semester of college when her roommate, a part Shairian, had called her out for staring. Peggy had experienced people of all different backgrounds in boot camp and her first tour of Asia. Eliza however had gone to college in a dome, and done her residency in a dome hospital, she had no experience with more diverse cultures. This expedition may start out awkward for her.

Angelica’s attention was pulled back to the front of the room by a tittering of laughter through the crowd. Because Hamilton went straight up to John Laurens and stopped with his head planted firmly in the center of the other man’s chest. 

“Take it off!!” One of the men in the back of the conference hall called, getting his intended spattering of laughter. Mr. Laurens began to turn a brilliant shade of scarlet. Nate Green covered his laughter with a loud cough and dismissed the room.

Angelica was close enough to the front to hear Hamilton mutter, “I haven’t slept in a week.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peggy is a special little snowflake and I love her in all of the fanfic that I have been reading. Too bad she’s not going to be staying for the duration of this fic… or is she???? 
> 
> Yay! Alex is part alien. In this fic a lot of characters are going to be interbred with alien species, some will have no outward indication that they are alien, others will have skin color or other differences. For example, Shairians have bird like features such as feathers as well as hair and hollow bones. I'm not planning on making one of the characters Shairian though. But it may happen. 
> 
> All I really know about this fic is that the last two chapters are concrete, the stuff in between is in flux until I post it. But life's about the journey, not the destination, amiright?
> 
> Please let me know if you like this fic. I'm working hard on it!!!! Also, I live for validation. Like for real. IM NEEDY OK!?!?!?


	3. More Than She Could Ever Hope For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m BAAAACCCKKKKKK!!!!! I'm going to be doing this thing when I pick up exactly where the last chapter left off by putting in the last line. I don’t want you guys to be like: “she already wrote this… WTH?” I'm doing it on purpose. Also: I'm a girl btw. ;)
> 
> HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!! One question? Why do family holidays suck so much? My family is so stressful and exhausting............ 
> 
> Please Excuse My French!!! I'm trying to learn, but I kinda suck…
> 
> But I bet you guys know what French means????? Ehh?? Ehhhhhh???? EHHHHHHHHHH???????? 
> 
> I'm obnoxious, I’ll stop… 
> 
> ** All French translations are at the end of the chapter.**

“I haven’t slept in a week.”; Alexander complained into John’s shirt.

“And whose fault is that?” His partner led the exhausted man to a chair.

“The damn idiots who think they can run the other ships!” Alex replied, abruptly finding the energy he needed to participate in his favorite activity: complain about other people and their decision-making skills. “Jefferson still can’t get his ship fully staffed. He’s had two months, I don’t think he’s even trying any more. He’s just hoping I can come along with a solution to his problem. Madison had an engine test failure, a failure of a test! How does he think he can captain a ship if he can’t even get his crew to do a test correctly? Adams is still dragging his feet about actually getting to his own ship; we leave in a week and I have daily emails from him, complaining about having to leave his wife alone for five years. And don’t even get me started on Lee!” Alex snorted, derisively. “The only other ship that is ready to go is Theo’s!”

Alex allowed himself to slump into the chair and opened a folder over his face, promptly falling asleep. John shook his head at his lover’s ability to sleep at any time, anywhere, and in any position. He gave Alex thirty minutes as John answered his own emails. Exactly at the thirty-minute mark, Alex shot out of the chair, “I’ve got it. We just have to keep the extra military people we are taking to Ganymede, let Jefferson take the officers that we were going to pick up to fill out his crew. Both of our ships won’t be fully staffed, but at least the EUSSF Monticello won’t be working with fifty plus fewer personnel than it needs. Jefferson will just have to deal with longer shifts on his ship.”

“So will we,” John observed. Doing a quick calculation. “We’ll only need to extend the shifts a little bit, being short less than twenty people…”

“So we schedule everyone for 48 on, 24 off shifts. Three shifts, so that there is always one group not on call and the other two can spell each other while they are on call for sleeping and eating.” Alex said, pulling up his email and sending his solution to all of the chief officers and captains of each of the ships. He quickly kissed his partner before rushing out of the room. 

John made a mental note to make sure the other man would get some sleep that night, going the extra distance by actually pulling up Alexander’s schedule and imputing a block of rest time that Alex would not be able to reschedule. A quick email to General Washington ensured that the rest of the crew would not allow Alex to schedule anything during that time. 

***

“AHHHHHHH!!!!!” Peggy burst into the small room holding four bunks that would have been her home with her sisters and another woman, at least for a few months. She was bouncing off the walls, smiling and giddy. And screaming her lungs out.

“What the hell?!” Maria Lewis, their fourth roommate, came out of their bathroom at the commotion.

“Peggy, calm down.” Eliza said with a frown.

“I get to stay! I get to stay!” Peggy couldn’t keep herself together. This turn of events was so much more than she could ever hope for.

“What do you mean, you get to stay?” Angelica, smiling, was pulled into a hug and then swung around the cabin in her sister’s exuberance.

“All of the soldiers who were going on to Ganymede are being kept on the Revolution!” Peggy continued her victory dance.

“Why?” Maria asked.

“Something about one of the other ships needing the manpower the Revolution was supposed to pick up on Ganymede more.” Peggy responded. “They didn’t say much more than that, but the Lieutenant General was muttering about pompous asshat’s the entire time. Ganymede Base will get more soldiers sent out as soon as we are underway, but since we were already on the ship, we get to stay!”

“The Expedition leaves in a week. Why didn’t they already have this sorted before now?” Eliza asked no one in particular.

“Why didn’t they have the rosters filled out two months ago when you guys finally got asked to join the crew? Why didn’t they pick you two in the first place? Who cares? We got on the expedition!” Peggy jumped onto the bunk she had claimed as her own and wiggled in happiness, bouncing on the mattress. 

“If you break your bunk, you aren’t going to sleep with me.” Maria said as she went back to organizing her bathroom necessities. 

***

The next few days were chaos. Everyone’s days were filled with meetings with duty captains, assignments needing to be switched because one person couldn’t stand another, storing cargo and double and triple checking everything. John could feel his brain turning to mush and hoped that once they were underway things would settle into an easier pattern. Currently he was overseeing a group of linguistics officers arguing about the best way to set up their station on the bridge.

“Non, ce ne sera pas!” the tallest of the three was waving his hands over the console switching between rapid fire French, English and at least two alien languages. Thankfully, or perhaps regrettably, all the other linguistics experts were following the conversation and speaking similarly.

“These translation algorithms are all wrong!” a short man said, craning his neck up to look at the first man. 

“You only say that because vous ne les avez pas écrites.” The tall man leaned over the shorter one. He continued in what John thought might be Ahmrakian. Whatever it was, it sounded derogatory. If John didn’t intervene, this could come to blows.

“How about,” He started, having to raise his voice to be heard over the arguing men, “I have the computer team set up completely different consoles for each of you? That way y’all won’t even have to work at the same station?”

They really didn’t have the space for one additional dedicated linguistics console, let along two; but if it kept these three off of each other’s throats and out of John’s hair for the next five years, he would give up his own personal console. 

“I will still know that this one is using vieux programmes to translate transmissions that could be coming from hostile aliens.” The tall Frenchman crossed his arms and glared at the other man. “I will not be able to sleep at night.”

“Mr…” John began.

“Lafayette.” The taller man supplied.

“Mr. Lafayette, I assure you that the technology on this ship is all state of the art and not a single computer program in the ship’s mainframe is sub-par.” John fought the urge to rub his temples. “If you give your colleagues the courtesy of allowing them to work the way they feel comfortable, then they will do the same for you.”

John walked away before they could start another argument, meeting Aaron Burr who fell into step beside him.

“You should have been the one to handle that…” John muttered.

“You handled it quite adequately.” Burr observed. “I did not see the need to assist you. 

“Remind me why I decided to become a computer engineer and not a kindergarten teacher like my mother wanted me to be?” John asked wearily.

“I believe you said that you did not wish to spend your days breaking up childish fights.” Burr observed in his calculating, inflection-less way. Burr was part alien, though nothing of his appearance would betray his heritage. He was shorter than John, very dark skin and he kept his hair in a short buzz cut. Half human, his alien genetics presented in that he never showed any emotion, analyzed everything, and could occasionally get empathic readings off of others. Although sometimes his lack of emotions was infuriating, he was one of the best personnel managers on any planet or space colony. It had taken a lot of negotiating to get Mr. Burr on the ship. “The irony is not lost on me.”

John sighed. “Could you see that the technicians are scheduled to set up two more consoles in that area? Take space from the one that is already there. If they can’t share a console, then they’ll just have to deal with crowding.”

“Of course.” Aaron replied. “Are we ready for departure?” 

“Nearly. All we have to do is make the big speeches.” John pulled up the speech that Alex had worked on for General Washington. He hoped the start to the expedition would be memorable. 

“I will see to the linguistics consoles, then.” Aaron said and turned off down another hallway. John just stared at the man’s back. 

***

“This auspicious day will be marked in the pages of Earth history.” President Washington’s image blazed from every screen on all six ships as well as across the solar system. “We will put into effect the EADN defense network, a collaboration between human and alien technology and science to make our solar system safe from outside threats. The Early Alien Detection Network will warn us of approaching extraterrestrial visitors and allow us to contact them at the earliest moment they reach our system.” 

The mass of dignitaries arranged behind the podium nodded along to the President’s words as the audience applauded. 

“We have spent the last fifty years building the network, with the help of our alien friends. Their help is acknowledged and appreciated. Without their more advanced space technology, we would never have been able to accomplish this task in such a relatively short time frame. However, there are more hostile aliens in the universe that may be looking to conquer and not just settle in out little corner, we must be prepared to meet them. EADN will allow us the forewarning we need to meet any extraterrestrial threat and protect what is ours. With the six ships leaving on this voyage, the last links in the fence to protect our solar system will be laid. General George Washington captains the Flagship of this expedition, EUSSF Revolution. Joining the Revolution and its crew are the EUSSF Yorktown, captained by General John Adams, the EUSSF Monticello, captained by General Thomas Jefferson, the EUSSF Saratoga, captained by General Theodosia Prevost, and the EUSSF Monmouth, captained by General Thomas Lee…”

Alex turned off the sound and laughed, popping open a bottle of champagne on the bridge. “How much you want to bet that Lee doesn’t stop complaining for a month that he was named after Theo? Misogyny: alive and well in the 22nd century.”

“I’ll take that bet.” Knox said, accepting a glass from John. 

“Are you kidding me? He won’t shut up for two months.” Nate Green said, “I just feel bad for his crew that have to listen to him.

“You’re both wrong.” General Washington laughed. “He won’t bring it up for over a year, but he won’t stop fuming over it for at least two.”

“What about you, John?” Alex asked passing a glass to the other man. “Any predictions?”

“I agree with the General, he won’t say a word about it, but I think that it will only take four months for something to happen about it.” John said, accepting the glass.

“Reasoning?” Alex asked.

“Lee is the type to hold onto slights, I’ll give you that. Even just perceived ones. He’ll let himself get worked up about it and that will come across in his dealings with Theo. Maybe even some of the other captains. She’s not the type to allow anyone to treat her like crap, so she’ll call him out on it.” John said with a shrug. 

“Fifty credits says you’re wrong.” Knox said, raising his glass to seal the bet.

“Fifty.” The rest of the group agreed.

“You know I don’t approve of gamboling, men.” General Washington said as they sipped their drinks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Non, ce ne sera pas- No, this won’t do.  
> vous ne les avez pas écrites- You didn’t write them.  
> vieux programmes- Ancient programs.
> 
> Weekly reminder that this fic is nicknamed FLYROOT. (I just can’t get over that… LOL). 
> 
> Yay! Peggy gets to stay on the Revolution!!!!
> 
> And welcome to America’s FAVORITE FIGHTING FRENCHMAN!!!!!!
> 
> (side note, if anyone speaks French better than me… I apologize if I sucked at that…)
> 
> Pres. Wash. had to say EUSSF a lot. Like a whole lot. Burr is a sneaky little shit. And then there’s the betting.


	4. Speechless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bit of angst in this one. Heads up. Not too much. 
> 
> Although I am going to be changing the warnings on this bc I’m writing a little bit ahead and things have gotten darker than I anticipated. So if you’re not ready for that, I urge you to stop reading this fic. Although I think I hinted that this was going to get dice-y in the summary… I apologize.

Alexander Hamilton had a huge problem. The kind that he couldn’t ignore and just hope it went away. The crews of all six ships were falling ill and there was no way to explain it.

“Or at least no way that anyone will tell me…” He muttered under his breath, shuffling through medical files that the stuffy old geezer who called himself the head medical technician on the UESF Revolution had shoved in his hands to shut him up. “Does merit mean nothing to anyone over forty? Just because you’re old, doesn’t mean you’re right.”

Alex was only 27, most of the higher ups on the expedition were at least ten years his elder, and they had no problem looking down on him. To make matters worse, a combination of poor nutrition in his early years and genetics had merged beautifully to make him barely five foot five inches, so the other expedition leaders were literally looking down on him most of the time. However, what he lacked in height he made up for in intelligence and sheer determination. Less friendly people would describe him as a smug demon with a Neapolitan Complex.

It wasn’t his fault that people thought, erroneously, that they could walk all over him.

But the more troubling part of the situation was the illness that was going undiagnosed… Alex could feel the anxiety rise in him, it wasn’t exactly like Nevis, but parallel enough that he had already blown through today’s allotment of anti-anxiety medication. No one had succumbed to any of the symptoms… But his mother… He shook his head to manually try to change his thought process; he didn’t have time to have a breakdown over people getting sick. That could wait until they had a solution to the problem.

Alex was lost in his internal monologue when he walked straight into a wall. Which confused him, it had only taken two weeks on board the ship to memorize all the corridors; lengths, turns, and travel times. By all accounts, there should not be a wall here. Or at least he thought he had walked into a wall, except the wall stumbled and turned to look at him as he was sprawled flat on the floor.

“Jeeze, little man, if you don’t watch where you’re going, you could hurt yourself!” The man/wall that Alex had ran into bent down and literally picked him up by the armpits and deposited him back on his feet before going to pick up the papers that had exploded from Alex’s files when he went down.

“I don’t need help.” Alex said as he bent to pick up his own papers.

“Well what do you need,” Came the reply as the other man continued to pick up the sheets of Plasfilm. “Cuz, I have to say, you look like you need something.”

 _A stiff drink and a willing body, preferably yours._ Alex’s treacherous mind supplied. He thanked whatever gods existed that his alien DNA did not come with a telepathic ability; his words got him into enough trouble, he didn’t need his thoughts to add to it. Like always, Alex reached for the anxiety medication that he kept with him at all times. Not caring that he was over medicating at the moment. The doctors said that these thoughts were a result of anxiety, a way for him to cope with the tragedy in his past by making lewd jokes. The drugs made them stop. Who was he to question medical professionals?

Except when they insisted on giving him the run around.

“Unless you can give me a reason why half of my crew is getting sick, I don’t think you can help me.” Alex began talking and found himself unloading the last week of his life onto this poor man. “I’ve been to the main medical bay eight times this week trying to get information as to the symptoms and any probable causes. Half of the crew, mostly pure humans, is exhibiting nausea, vomiting, muscle fatigue and spasms. I'm getting nowhere with the medics, all they tell me is that they are working on identifying the disease. Then I thought it might be something to do with the Bacterial Air Scrubbers. So I checked with the engineering department, but they say all the Scrubbers are running at optimal rates. There are no unidentified contagions in any of the filter screens. I’ve even had them replace and destroy the old screens, nothing is changing… and I'm sorry, you probably don’t know what I'm talking about.”

“Actually I'm an engineer, so at least with the machines I know exactly what you’re talking about.” The man gave Alex a smile and held out a hand to shake. “Hercules Mulligan, Engineering assigned to Engine 5 and Launch Bay 12.”

“Oh, god. I didn’t even introduce myself…” Alex rubbed his face, shoulders slumping. “I'm sorry, Alexander Hamilton-“

“I do know who you are. Listen, I could look over some of the readouts for the Scrubbers. See if they actually are working at optimal efficiency, or if the other engineers are just giving you the run-around. In return,” Hercules laughed and shook Alex’s hand. “You can come have dinner-“

“I'm already seeing someone.” Alex cut Hercules off. He did not need to have any more complications in his life. Illnesses, the expedition, John, and the voices in his head were enough. Thank you very much.

“So am I.” Hercules replied with what Alex was beginning to recognize as his ever-present smile; thankfully he did not seem offended. “He’s been complaining about wanting to find another couple to have dinners with, because apparently my presence is only captivating to a certain extent.”

Alex laughed abruptly. He wasn’t expecting the other man to be funny. “Ok then. I’ll ask John if he wants to have dinner.”

***

“That was delicious, Mr. Lafayette.” John said, pushing back his empty plate.

“Yes,” Alex agreed. “Especially since neither of us is very good in the kitchen.”

The ship had communal cafeterias scattered across all the work levels, the living levels had one cafeteria each and a few smaller kitchens for crewmembers who wished to cook for themselves on their days off. Alex and John knew where to find the smaller kitchens to reheat meals that had gone cold due to working through meal times, but other than that, those kinds of spaces were worthless to them.

Lafayette, on the other hand was apparently magic. Whatever he had made was amazing, John didn’t ask much more than the name of the dish and after it was supplied to him in French he decided that not knowing exactly what he was eating would be better than knowing.

“Then, maybe we should trade partners?” Lafayette laughed. “Hercules and I can fatten the two of you up, and return you to each other well nourished. And please, Lafayette or Gilbert is fine.”

“Hey! I'm not mal-nourished! The cafeterias are ok!” Alex bristled, as if he hadn’t finished his own plate at the same time as John did.

“‘OK’ is not the word one should use to describe food, mon ami.” Lafayette admonished, then continued with a shrug that was more of a graceful tilt of one shoulder, “Of course, it could just be the French in me…”

“I think I'm going to break up with you when we run out of real food.” Hercules mentioned off hand. “Just so I don’t have to deal with you on the powdered stuff…”

“I packed enough spices that our relationship should be able to survive at least a year or two.” Lafayette play-glared at his partner before changing the subject. “Now down to the real business. How did you two meet? All the system knows about the adorable couple on General Washington’s payroll, but I'm surprised that no reporter has written anything about your relationship.”

“Not for lack of trying.” John made a face. “The first six months we were dating, we had people banging down our doors to get an exposé.”

“We decided to keep our relationship to ourselves. Its not like gay couples are such a big thing…” Alex trailed off.

“Ah, but gay couples in charge of an expedition to save the solar system from evil alien invaders?” Lafayette said, “Now there’s a story!”

John laughed and nudged Alex’s arm. “Go ahead, you love to tell it.”

 

**Alex had been nervous: he was 19 years old and just out of college. He’d managed to get his GED as soon as he got to the States and through sheer force of character graduated college in two years with no less than three majors. And although his benefactors, General George Washington and then Senator Martha Washington had insisted that he could do anything he wanted, that they helped him off of his wrecked island and through college only to prevent a good mind from going to waste, Alex felt compelled to go into the military and to work with the General. Through grumblings of nepotism that the General actively ignored, he gained a place at the man’s right hand. Sorting his paperwork, writing speeches and letters, and doing a bit of the financing.**

**But that wasn’t the reason that Alex was nervous. He felt almost as out of place at the moment as he had felt in grade school, obviously different and obviously despised by the people around him. They were in a Dome to recruit some computer hacker that had managed to turn all the screensavers in the government into rainbows and unicorns. Everyone they passed stared at Alex with open contempt, he balled his fists and tried to cover his ears to hide the color variation, maybe he should grow his hair out?**

**The only reason he had passed the gates into this community was because the General was standing right next to him, his calm unflappable.**

**They arrived at the home of the hacker. A huge southern style farmhouse, dog chained in the yard, old Confederate flag flapping from the eaves of the porch. Apparently, all you needed to live in a dome was ‘pure’ blood and just enough money to buy the property. Alex knew that there were other domes that were much more high end, but here in the South? Alex’s unease ratcheted up a couple of notches.**

**“Sir, are you sure that you don’t want me to stay in the car?” Alex twisted the file in his hands and shifted nervously.**

**“Alexander, do you realize that you are standing at the right hand of one of the most powerful men in the Solar System?” Washington did not wait for Alex to respond. “Although I don’t wholly agree, the world sees me as one of the most important individuals alive right now. My opinion counts a great deal. And my opinion of you is that you are more valuable than gold and fame and property. You are more important to me than any one of the people in any of these domes, that makes you more important than them. Do not let closed minds effect the way you carry yourself in this world, Alexander.”**

**Washington did not wait for Alex to reply. Which was a good thing, it was rare occurrence that Alexander Hamilton was rendered speechless. But here he was: part alien, standing in a purist dome, speechless with awe at the General. Washington simply knocked on the door.**

**“Eh, what d’you want?” The man who answered the door was large and intimidating, and very drunk. He took one look at Washington and Alex, ‘hrumphed’ at Alex’s ears and gave him a look like Alex was less than the fleas on the dog out by the fence, and addressed the General as if Alex didn’t exist. “I ain’t donating to no alien peace funds and I don’t care about no starving children.”**

**“Mr. Laurens, we are here to talk to your son, Jonathan.” Washington began, ignoring the rude greeting and continuing on as if the other man had offered them tea and welcomed them into the house.**

**“What’s he done this time?” The man didn’t even wait for a response before shouting, “Jack! Get your ass down here!”**

**Without another look at either man at the door, he returned to the living room, his beer, and his television.**

**Sounds of shoes on wood announced the young man. He was tall, hadn’t grown into his limbs yet. His shoulders slouched under an antique leather jacket, a t-shirt with a seascape on it peeking out from the unzipped front. He had curly brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. Green eyes stared out of the guarded face. He was biting on his bottom lip and obviously uncertain about the two men at the door. Freckles scattered like stars across his face, _I want to map those constellations,_ Alex thought. **

**“Jack?” Washington began.**

**“It’s John,” The young man interrupted.**

**“John,” Washington corrected himself. “I am General George Washington of the United Earth System Space Fleet. I believe we have a need of someone with your specific skills…”**

 

“The rest is history.” Alex finished. “I hit on him as much as I could without getting in trouble with HR, he turned me down every damn time for four years and when I finally got him to agree to a date with me, I charmed the pants off of him.”

“Alex leaves off the part where he started screaming at my father because the man made some anti-alien and homophobic remarks as they were leaving, and got a restraining order placed against him by every member of the South Charleston Dome community.” John supplied, “Also, the part where he was a complete dog for years. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a parade of exes as long as his is.”

Alex rubbed the back of his neck nervously, “Yah, it took me a while to realize that was the reason for all the ‘no’s…”

“Monogamy,” Lafayette laughed and made a gesture dismissing the concept. “Where some humans got the idea that it is healthy to sleep with only one person for the rest of your lives, I will have no idea. It does not exist in any of the alien races that we know of.”

“So you two aren’t?” John asked trying to hid his distaste for the idea.

“Non. Hercules and I have an open relationship. Both of us are free to conduct our own business, but we acknowledge that we will always return to each other.” Lafayette smiled. The Frenchman winked at Alex and John before continuing, “Sometimes one of us will return with a present for both of us to enjoy.”

“And on that note, its time for us to be going.” John cleared his throat and stood. He shook Hercules’ and Lafayette’s hands and dragged Alex out of the room. He spent the rest of the night fuming about the French.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HERCULES MULLIGAN!!!!!! Taylor spying on the British government!
> 
> I love Mulligan, big teddy bear but could probably rip you in half people just make me happy. 
> 
> Also, yay for finding out how Alex and John met!!! I lived in the South for most of my high school and college and I have seen houses even worse than the Laurens’. I’ll let you know that my parent’s home has no less than 4 cars broken down in the back yard… yah.
> 
> Also, again, monogamy, amirite? I was thinking about making this a poly fic, but I'm not sure how I would be able to work that in… It might happen still... *shrugs* I never said that I knew exactly what this fic is going to end up as, only that I know the beginning and the end and a bunch of little bits in the middle. Even the middle bits are moving around constantly....
> 
> Finally for this week, I'm going to be posting the first chapters of each of the projects that I'm thinking about working on after FLYROOT is complete. I'm going to be holding a contest as to which one I continue first, the one with the most Kudos and comments at the time I post the Epilogue of this story will be the one I work on next! Keep an eye out next week!!!


	5. Dead In The Water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who would have thought I would make it to chapter 5? 
> 
> Ya'll are getting two chapters this week because I somehow got two days off work with pay this week! Plus not only am I working only three days this week, tomorrow is the Christmas party, so three-ish hours of getting paid to party! Woohoo!!
> 
> This chapter is mostly Eliza centric, because I love her. She is my raison de vivre. I think my next fic is going to be centered on her, or at least she will be the main love interest for whomever the story is about. What do you guys think?
> 
> *French at the end of the chapter*

Eliza was going to scream. She had spent the last two hours in Med Bay 6 treating no less than five cases of Gravity Sickness. Now a sixth man had been brought to her groaning in pain.

 _That makes over half of the full human crew, and an eighth of the part humans, if this keeps up, we are going to have to postpone any further travel. It just won’t be safe to move the ship when it’s so understaffed._ For the last week, the Revolution had been working with skeleton crews. She knew the exact reason so many men and women were getting sick, but when she brought the problem to the attention of her superiors, she was met with disdain and told to return to her assigned bay.

 

The man on her table groaned again and his partner hovered over him like a mother hen.

 

“What can be done, ma chérie?” Lafayette fluttered his hands, unsure if touching his boyfriend would cause comfort of just more pain.

 

Eliza fought the urge to crack her stiff neck and pulled up the man on the table’s file. Hercules Mulligan, human physiology, 34, engineer for one of the central engines, previous medical training. The man should have known better! “How long have you been experiencing symptoms, Mr. Mulligan?”

 

“Only a day or two.” Lafayette responded first.

 

“Uh, uh. I didn’t ask you, Monsieur Lafayette. Hercules, how long have you known you have been experiencing Gravity Sickness?” Eliza needed to be firm, but maybe not as short as she was being.

 

The large man huffed past what Eliza recognized as a wave of nausea to respond, “Three weeks…”

 

“Trois?!” Lafayette began and continued to curse in a string of French, Spanish, and Eliza thought may have been Gaelic? How many languages did the man speak?

 

“If you do not calm yourself, I will have you removed from my med bay.” Eliza threatened Lafayette. The man continued to fume, but at least limited his tirade at his partner to sign language.

 

“You ever have a boyfriend who could cuss you out in six languages?” Hercules asked, trying to lighten the mood. An attempt that completely missed the mark as he had to lean over and vomit into a basin that Eliza had ready.

 

“I can’t say that I have.” Eliza said as he resurfaced and leaned weakly against the wall of the exam room. “Your case of Gravity Sickness isn’t nearly as bad as some of the other’s I’ve seen lately. You must have been doing some type of physical activity that allowed you to adjust somewhat.”

 

“My job is pretty physically demanding.” Hercules responded. “But that’s not the only thing that’s been physically demanding…”

 

“Sexual innuendos are not going to improve your health, Mr. Mulligan.” Eliza stopped his attempt at levity, “I'm going to give you a mild sedative that will put you out for the next few hours, as well as a proscribe muscle relaxer that I want you to take for the next two weeks. I want to keep you here until we can get some fluids into you, but after that, your partner can take you back to your bunk. I don’t want you overexerting yourself for the rest of the week, Saturday at the earliest.”

 

“I have to get back to work, we are already understaffed with everyone else being sick; the ship can’t afford to have even one less engineer.” Hercules started, weakly. He attempted to get up, but Eliza pushed him back onto the gurney.

 

“Then we are going to be dead in the water until Saturday.” Eliza said, pulling up his schedule and putting a medical block on all of his appointments until Saturday. “I won’t risk your health just so we can keep going. The EADN network will still be there in four days when we can move again. When you go back to work, though, you would do well to attend your scheduled PT blocks. Keeping the muscles and equilibrium actively working is the only thing that can fight Gravity Sickness.”

 

Hercules sighed as she went about attaching him to an IV drip, giving him a shot of sedative and a dose of antibiotics just to be sure his weakened immune system didn’t succumb to any sickness already inside him. The Bacterial Air Scrubbers on the ship were good at their job; however, noting was 100% accurate and weakened immune systems were nothing to laugh at.

 

“Thank you, Mademoiselle Schuyler.” Lafayette took Eliza’s concluding tone as signal that he was allowed to speak again. “I will make sure that mon petit ami follows your instructions.”

 

Eliza hoped that he did. She was turning to leave the exam room before Lafayette was speaking again. “I would wonder, Mademoiselle Schuyler, if you would like to join us for dinner?”

 

“Excuse me?” Eliza mentally ran over the last fifteen minuets trying to find the point in their interaction where she had indicated that dinner with the already attached Frenchman was on the table.

 

“I would like for you to join us for dinner.” The man said with a smile, as if he knew exactly where her mind had just gone. Hell, he was part alien, for all she knew his species could read minds. Eliza quickly put up a glass cage around her thoughts as she had been trained to in her alien relations training, just in case. The man continued in what Eliza could only describe as a purr, “Tonight we are celebrating the last decent meal until we reach Ganymede, my beau does not seem to be inclined to eat much right now and it will be a shame to waste real food when all we will have soon is protein bars and vitamin supplements.”

 

“I'm afraid I have to decline, Mr. Lafayette. I would not be comfortable eating your last decent food.” Eliza diplomatically replied. “I thank you for the invitation.”

Eliza left the room before the strange part alien tried to pull anything else on her.

 

***

 

Alexander Hamilton was being yelled at. He vaguely remembered the woman who had rushed up to him and started right in with a tirade about… something? But he couldn’t place her. He was tired, running the ship in General Washington’s absence, trying to get a straight answer why half the crew of the entire expedition were falling ill. She continued in on him it seemed without taking a breath.

 

“I’ve tried to go through regular channels, Lieutenant General Hamilton,” She stated, a bit more than agitated, “However, I have been met with resistance because of my age. The situation is very upsetting. We have more than half of the full human crew off duty because of medical reasons, a third of the part human crew as well. We cannot continue this mission without a healthy crew so if my superiors refuse to report my concerns I just had to find someone higher up-”

 

Alex rubbed his eyes; the pain in the back of his head was spreading to his neck and temples. The vague thought that slipped into his head was that this girl was very pretty. Would she make any of the same faces if he were able to entice her to more intimate interactions? Alex shook his head and reached for his anxiety medication, these were not the thoughts he should be having after being in a committed relationship for the past ten months... She took a breath as Alex popped the pills into his mouth and he swallowed quickly and was able to get a word in.

 

“I understand the severity of our situation, Dr. Schuyler.” He began, the memory of John choosing her file in their living room, had that only been four months ago, popping into his head, “I have been attempting to get to the bottom of the crew’s health problems for the past two weeks. Unfortunately, all I get from the medical officers is a string of medical jargon and no real answers. If you have a solution to our particular problem, or are even just willing to tell me in layman’s terms what is happening to my crew, I am all ears.” Alex wiggled his ears making the slightly purple tips twitch, a move that usually got him a smile at least.

 

Elizabeth only frowned more. “Its Gravity Sickness.”

 

“Gravity Sickness? That can’t be right?” Alex shook his head. His attention pulled back to the problems of the six ships. “I distinctly remember us taking precautions against-“

 

“This is Gravity Sickness, sir.” Eliza cut Alex off, pulling up a chart and showing it to him. “Pure and simple. All the symptoms, dizziness, nausea, muscle fatigue, all point directly to Gravity Sickness. When Artificial Gravity technology was, ah… adopted by humans fifty years ago, they took it at face value. It worked, why fix what wasn’t broken? Well, the machinery wasn’t made for human physiology; it messes with a person’s equilibrium. People start to show symptoms of extreme vertigo. After some time we figured out how to combat this with exercise and medication but even now, no one has thought to treat the cause to remove the symptoms.”

 

“Thank you for the history lesson, Doctor.” Alex laughed. She sounded like she was quoting from a textbook, which Ms. Schuyler probably was.

 

“Maybe if you’d paid more attention in history, we wouldn’t be dead in the water for the rest of the week.” Eliza shot back, immediately slapping her hand over her mouth.

 

Alex continued to laugh, though. “We’d still be stuck here, they are having similar problems on the EUSSF Virginia and EUSSF Monmouth. As much as I have to say it, we are all in the same boat. The General is seeing to the EUSSF Monmouth at the moment, its captain is out for the count.”

 

“Be that as it may, this ship is specifically our concern.” Eliza pulled up her own schedule and showed the tablet to Alex. “What do you see?”

 

“A schedule.”

 

Eliza sighed, zoomed into her physical training block. “PT: hours, trainer, gym number, and-“

 

“‘Not mandatory’” Alex read the little red letters under the assignment. “How the fu-?”

 

“Who knows?” Eliza said, “But whoever did the schedule templates back on Earth has royally screwed us out of four days of travel.”

 

Alex was already pulling up the master template for all the ship’s scheduling and changing it for the future. He was fuming, how could something so simple be overlooked? _I guess when you leave six months too early…_ he thought to himself. He fired off an email to General Washington and sent copies to all of the other high-ranking officials, informing them what exactly was going on. “Thank you, Doctor. Trust me, I’ll remember this.”

 

Eliza just made a ‘humph’ noise and turned to return to her med bay. A hand stopped her on her shoulder and she noticed that the tips of Alexander’s fingers were also tinged purple, almost like he spent his time writing with old quill pens. She fought the urge to shrug out of his touch. She was already in enough trouble with going over her supervisor’s heads as well as speaking so harshly to Alexander earlier, she didn’t need to add to her bad reputation.

 

“Some friends of mine are having a get together tonight; nothing fancy, just dinner. Would you like to join us?” Alex asked.

 

“I don’t think that would be appropriate, Lieutenant General.” She turned and left, what was it with already attached part aliens inviting her to dinner today?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ma chérie- my sweet, my honey. It’s a pet name.  
> trois- three  
> mon petit ami- My boyfriend. 
> 
> Ok, so who’s the dick that screwed the scheduling up? This is a costly mistake! 
> 
> And why are all the boys asking Eliza to dinner? They are all gay!!! What is going on here???????
> 
> Side note: cute!Laf worrying over sick!Herc!!!! My life is complete.
> 
> Contest chapters will be up on Thursday, just to keep y'all updated. So technically I will be posting 4 chapters this week, damn I'm a busy beaver!!!


	6. Ten Pounds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out the two new snippets that I posted! The first is called “Red Heat” the second is “Call Me John Laurens” they are part of a contest I'm holding to see what I focus on after this fic is done! Vote by commenting/giving kudos to which ever one you want to see worked on the most!! The contest closes January 5, 2017!
> 
> So I got this idea that each person was allowed to bring with them ten pounds of personal items. I think this idea came from the Dragonriders of PERN series I read them ages ago. The books were the first series I remember becoming totally immersed in. They really shaped me as a writer/lover of scifi. 
> 
> Of course, I don’t think that the PERN settlers were only allowed ten pounds of personal items. It was a different measurement. Ten pounds worked for me, though. 
> 
> Have some Eliza/Maria fluff!!!!

This could quite possibly be the most awkward situation that Dr. Elizabeth Schuyler had ever found herself in, and she had done her residency in one of the premier hospitals for the Earth’s elite.

She had returned to her bunk after her shift in the med bay to find Maria trying on one of the dresses the other woman had included in her personal items. The dress was bright red, clung to her body in exactly the right places and had a little bit of a flounce to in in the scalloped neckline as well as the flair of the skirt. It was also only half zipped and Eliza could see caramel colored skin and gracious curves. _Ten pounds and she chose that…_ Eliza greatly appreciated the choice and allowed herself to stare for a second or two before entering the room fully and giving her roommate a little cough to announce her presence.

Maria spun, the dress flaring out around her, “Liza! Just in time, could you zip this up for me?”

Eliza attempted to hide her blush but went to slide the zipper up the back of the dress, fingers coming precariously close to the soft skin. It had only been two months on the ship, but Eliza was enamored. Everything about Maria was perfect. The way she walked. Her accent and the way she rolled her ‘r’s.’ The arguments they would get into over politics, or beauty secrets, or literature. Eliza felt like she had a permanent flush whenever Maria was anywhere within ten feet of her. But, of course, Maria was straight, had just gotten out of a relationship before starting this journey, and probably wasn’t looking for a woman to fill the last man’s place.

“I’m going to a dinner party tonight!” Maria liked to fill the silence with chatter, something Eliza didn’t mind in the least. “Its with one of the Engineers that I see sometimes in the launch bay and some of his friends.”

Eliza’s fuzzy happy feeling diminished. Maria was going to a party with a guy, she should have seen this coming. Maria was gorgeous, and intelligent, the perfect partner. Of course men were already chasing after her. Eliza put aside her disappointment and plastered an interested smile on her face, a large part of her telling her not to say what she was about to: “And is this guy cute?”

Maria huffed as she slipped a tiny gold chain around her neck, it was long enough to loop around her throat twice and she did. A tiny rose dangled from the longer loop. “He’s stunning. However he’s taken… His boyfriend is gorgeous too though. They make a magnificent couple. Hey! You know what? You should come with me, that way I won’t be bored to death when the couples start pairing off.”

Eliza was willing to do just about anything to stay near Maria even watch her flirt with other people, however, “I didn’t bring any fancy clothing.”

“Of course, _you_ didn’t.” Maria rolled her eyes, “Ten Pounds of personal items and the girl fills half of them with books. Actual paper books.”

Maria moved to the small trunk that held her personal belongings and began to rummage through them. She came up with a mass of light blue lace that she tossed to Eliza. “Luckily, I always come prepared. You’re a little less bootylicious than I am, but this dress has always been a bit tight on me.”

She continued to ramble as she pushed Eliza to the bathroom to change. Eliza quickly undressed and redressed. The dress itself was a white silk tube contraption covered with blue lace. No sleeves, but the lace neck of the dress came up to a high collar. Even though she was covered in fabric from neck to knees, Eliza felt more exposed that she liked. She pulled her hair up in a stylish but messy bun before returning to the room.

She was greeted by whistles and a “da-ymn, girl!” Her sisters had returned form their shifts. Peggy was soon rummaging through both Angelica’s and her own trunk for the prefect jewelry, which turned out to be a pair of long gold and diamond earrings and a set of bangles that were family heirlooms. Angelica tutted at her hair and went at it with a comb and bobby pins.

Maria busied herself with her own makeup and hair. And soon, before Eliza realized it, they were out the door.

 

***

 

How she had ended up in Lieutenant General Alexander Hamilton’s quarters, she couldn’t know.

“You said this was going to be dinner with some guys from engineering!” Eliza hissed in Maria’s ear as John Laurens, Alexander’s partner took the bottle of wine they were able to requisition from the quartermaster and placed it with two others to chill for the dinner. She had even wondered if wine was going to be too highbrow for engineering guys.

“One of them is from engineering.” Maria pointed to Hercules Mulligan, who was not supposed to be overexerting himself, but admittedly was looking much better than earlier that day.

He jokingly assured her that he would be sticking to water for the meal as they shook hands. Then the handsy Frenchman was taking her arm and placing kisses up and down it’s length.

“Ma belle docteur!” he cried as Eliza tried in vain to remove her arm. An arm she was now thoroughly convinced was severely underdressed. “I am so glad you could join us after all!”

“Well, I… um…” Eliza tried to extricate her arm from Lafayette’s grasp, managing only to have him holding her hand. He bowed elaborately over it.

“I forced her to come.” Maria came to Eliza’s rescue. Laughing heartily when Lafayette’s attentions where turned to her. He picked Maria up and spun her “Ma pétale!”

Maria laughed, swatting at Lafayette. Eliza started to get jealous, she turned her attention to Alex and John. It was all she could do to ignore the man’s hands on Maria’s waist, and she had to, it wasn’t like Maria was her girlfriend.

“Did you see the communication?” John asked, making small talk.

“The one sent back to Earth or the one circulated among the ships?” Eliza asked unnecessarily, she had seen both. “The one where General Washington has ‘given the crews of all six ships’ the rest of the week off as a reward for preforming beyond the expectations of the expedition commanders? Or the one where he chews out the scheduling team for not making PT mandatory, the ship captains for taking the medical teams at their word, and the medical team for not listening to the suggestions of all members regardless of age or background? That last part was my particular favorite.”

“I especially liked where he actually berated himself along with the other captains for assuming that everything would work perfectly just because the technology we are using is state-of-the-art.” Hercules laughed with a significant look at Alex.

“I may or may not actually be the one who writes 90% of the General’s correspondence.” Alex laughed. He then turned and picked up covered plates announcing, “Let’s get to it, I'm starved!”

 

***

 

“… And then he said to me ‘well you’ve seen mine, its only appropriate I get to see yours.’” The table erupted into laughter as Hercules finished the story of how he and Lafayette had met.

Eliza felt like someone had turned off the artificial gravity. She was floating, happy. She didn’t remember being such a lightweight, she was only allowing herself one glass of wine, but she felt like she had already drank a full bottle. _I guess that’s what a couple of months in space gets you_. She could feel her eyes drooping; soon she would be falling asleep.

“Enough!” Lafayette announced, “I want to play ‘First Impressions!’”

The three men moaned… “It’s his favorite game with new people.” Hercules explained to the two women in a fake whisper. “We all hate it.”

“Posh, mon petit ami, you love this game!” Lafayette replied. “First we will do moi! Everyone in the circle give me your first impression of me. Try to keep it to as few words as possible.”

“Charming.” Hercules began, earning himself a kiss from the Frenchman.

“Crazy.”

“Proud.”

“Fabulous.” Came the next answers from John, Alex and Maria, respectively.

“Loud.” Eliza said without thinking. She realized the second the word was out of her mouth that it was rude, mean, and she shouldn’t have said it. “Shit, no… I… Damn it… I didn’t mean…”

Laughter from the others stopped her attempts at apology. Eliza could tell that she would not like this game…

“She is not wrong, love.” Hercules said as he dropped a peck on his partner’s cheek, tears of mirth on his cheeks.

The game continued, at first with Eliza paying more attention to give polite answers. Alex got, “argumentative, nonstop, flirty, and Pain in my ass” the last from John and was obviously an old joke judging by how Alexander laughed just as hard as everyone else. However it was hard to focus with Maria next to her at the small table, and how had she not finished her glass of wine yet? Somehow Eliza’s head made its way down to Maria’s shoulder, the other woman made no move to push her away.

Hercules’ turn, he received adjectives such as “passionate” from Alex, “Determined” from John, “Damn good mechanic” from Maria. By this point Eliza’s eyes were closed and nothing she could do could keep them open. Leaning against Maria was nice.

“Maria next.”

“Gorgeous.”

“Intelligent.”

“A little sad.”

“Trouble.” Eliza spoke without thinking again; this time not realizing that she was paddling herself up shit’s creek and had voluntarily tossed away her paddle. Eyes still closed, she didn’t even realize the look she was receiving from the rest of the table. Suddenly, her Maria pillow was gone.

“Excuse me?” Maria sounded angry. Why?

“Maybe because you just called me trouble.”

Shit was she talking out loud? That was supposed to be a thought.

“What did you mean by ‘trouble?’” Maria asked.

“Trouble because you’re straight.” Eliza replied. “Because you’re smart. And pretty. And kind. And captivating. And your eyes… And beautiful. And you smell nice. And your laugh-“

Maria’s lips were on hers; Eliza’s eyes flew open. The kiss was short and sweet. Enough to knock Eliza on her ass, especially in her intoxicated state. “Wow, that was nice. But you’re straight?”

“That’s a conversation we need to have when you’re not three sheets to the wind, chica.” Maria stood with a laugh and got Eliza to her feet as well, apologizing to the men, “I'm gonna get this one back to our cabin before the wine gets her into even more trouble.”

“Maybe the wine should get Eliza even farther into ‘trouble’” Hercules wiggled his eyebrows at Maria. This earned him a punch in the shoulder from Alex.

“That was the worst one yet, dude.” Alex said. Everyone else just laughed.

The two left, Maria’s arm around Eliza’s waist to steady her.

“That went well.” John said, still looking at the closed door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ma pétale- my petal
> 
> Yah, I ship Maria/Eliza. I ship it hard. I also like the idea of Eliza being so unused to social interaction that she doesn’t recognize someone flirting with her. I'm the same way. 
> 
> That being said, probably not the best idea to get drunk and confess your feelings for someone, that almost never goes well… 
> 
> Also, I totally made that First Impressions game up. I think Lafayette did too. Lol
> 
> (Side note: I has a Tumblr. If anyone wants to come say hi! immadoathing.tumblr.com)


	7. Like I Know My Own Mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out the two snippets that I posted! The first is called “Red Heat” the second is “Call Me John Laurens” they are part of a contest I'm holding to see what I focus on after this fic is done! Vote by commenting/giving kudos to which ever one you want to see worked on the most!! The contest closes January 5, 2017!
> 
> I had a good first day at my new workroom and I feel like sharing the love. Although I had to wake up at 3:45 in the freaking morning.... but early to work means I get out at 2! Which is nice and it makes me feel like I have more time. Plus, all I do at work is think about the stories, so I come home and write, so I think I'll make this posting twice a week thing permeant. (I reserve the right to back down to one a week if I start to get writer's block.)
> 
> Also I’m getting a puppy for Christmas!!!! Her name is Pygmy Puff. She’s a Lemon Beagle, which means she’s white and yellow. Because, come on, can a Hufflepuff get anything that isn’t yellow??? And she has such cute little freckles all over her nose!!! I'm going to train her on Harry Potter Spell commands, so come is going to Accio. Stay will be Stupify. And she’ll play dead when I say Avada Kedavera! I'm so in love!!!!

“That went well.” John said, still looking at the closed door.

The door in question swung open again as Peggy and Angelica entered. Taking the recently vacated seats at the table, the two women helped themselves to leftovers.

“Of course it went well.” Angelica said, draining what was left in Eliza’s wine glass, to protests from Peggy. “I know my sisters like I know my own mind.” She pulled a small bottle of Tequila out of her pocket and passed it to Peggy.

“Score!”

“Hey pass some of that, I’ve had to pretend to be recuperating the whole meal and I missed out on all the booze!” Hercules said, but Peggy dutifully passed the bottle.

“Don’t you think that this was a little… underhanded?” John asked, topping off his, Lafayette’s and Alex’s glasses. He filled Angelica’s purloined glass with the last of the bottle. “Having Hercules pretend to be sick so that Lafayette and he could ask Eliza out to dinner? And then Alex when she turned them down, and then having Hercules ask Maria when Eliza turned both Lafayette and Alex down?”

“If I hadn’t already figured out that she was gay, I would have been hurt on all of our accounts.” Lafayette raised a hand to his chest, dramatically, and pretended to have a fainting spell. “I for one have never been turned down so quickly.”

Angelica shrugged. “Schuyler’s do what has to be done. And this way, Eliza and Maria are happy.”

“And we don’t have to listen to Maria complain about her ‘super hot and totally unavailable roommate’.” Hercules imitated Maria’s voice. “‘She’s gorgeous, Herc. I just don’t know why she’s not responding to any of my signals! I’m pretty sure she’s gay; my gaydar is spot on. But whenever I try to get her attention, she just doesn’t do anything! Am I loosing my touch?’”

“No, our sister is that dense.” Peggy snorted. “I love the girl and I'm the first to admit that she’s a genius when it comes to anything medical. But short of Maria actually planting one on her, she has the ability to rationalize anything.”

“So do you guys think that we might end up crashing on couches tonight or…” Angelica asked the men, letting the question trail off.

“I don’t think so,” John said. “Maria said something about talking when Eliza wasn’t drunk.”

“Plus, I don’t think Maria is the type to take advantage of someone when they are intoxicated.” Hercules supplied.

“Good, cuz I forgot to grab pajamas when we left the room.” Peggy said before knocking back a shot with Hercules.

***

 

The talk was surprisingly painless the next morning. Unfortunately, Eliza’s hangover was much less so.

“Kill me now.” She croaked, burying her head into the mattress of her bunk. “I think that damn Frenchmen kept refilling my glass when I wasn’t looking…”

Maria’s laughter floated over to Eliza. “Well good morning to you, too. And you are right; Laf did keep filling your glass. I thought you knew what he was doing, or I would have said something.”

Eliza gratefully accepted the painkillers that Maria passed her along with a glass of water. “Didn’t. Thought it was his glass he kept topping off…”

As the painkillers began to work their magic, the events of the night returned to Eliza. “Oh my god, I can’t believe I did that… Please tell me that I didn’t get very drunk, insult you, and then confess… Things…”

Maria’s light chuckle told Eliza all that she needed to know. “Fuuuuucccckkkkkkk…”

“No, it was cute!” Maria came to sit at the edge of the bed. Her fingers were cool as she smoothed Eliza’s hair away from her face. “But I do think we need to talk about it.”

“I should have never said anything,” Eliza jumped right into her apology. “Even drunk, I had no right to put you in that kind of situation. I know you are straight and I know you just got out of a long term relationship, and I'm so sorry for the way I acted, if you want me to ask for another room assignment-“

Maria leaned down and kissed Eliza, who instantly shut up and responded to the kiss.

“Uhh, wow…” Eliza said when Maria pulled back a bit. “But…”

“I'm bi, love.” Maria said, tilting her head to the side with a smile at Eliza’s confused face. “And I think you’re adorable.”

“I wish I had known that…” Eliza said stunned. “I mean, that would explain a lot of the signals I’ve been getting from you. You’re bi! But I thought you were just being friendly? I thought that maybe that’s how your friends and family treated each other… Ok. I think-“

Maria leaned in and kissed Eliza quiet again. Eliza wasn’t complaining, especially when she was making a fool of herself with word vomit. The irony of the situation, their roles reversed: Eliza talking up a storm and Maria mostly silent through it all was not lost on Eliza. But the kiss was sweet, and enough of a distraction that neither noticed when the door to their bunk opened. They broke apart when Peggy and Angelica came back from wherever they had been, and started cat-calling the two. Eliza blushed fire engine red and hid her face in the blankets, Maria only laughed.

“Is this going to be a thing with us?” Maria asked.

“I sincerely hope not.” Eliza mumbled into the pillow.

 

***

 

“Sir, there’s some weird static coming in on all channels…” One of the communications officers called to John. He walked over to her console, looking at the readouts.

It was a month after restocking at Ganymede Base. The farthest place in the solar system humans had managed to colonize. The three ships, the Revolution, Monticello and the Monmouth, which had travelled together up to this point, had split to make the final leg of the journey alone to their respective sections of the EADN network. Five months away from home. Even burning all nine of the Revolution’s engines, it would take at least three and a half months to get back to the Earth. They were truly alone in space.

It would take at least another five months to make it out to where the unmanned seeder ships had laid the groundwork for the defense network. John was frankly happy to be flying solo. The fact that both Lee and Jefferson, Alex’s lest favorite people in the galaxy, could no longer take a short-range shuttle to the Revolution was a comfort in and of itself.

“Have engineering come in and check this console for any loose wires.” John suggested. “Until then, move your work over to that console.”

“Yes, Sir.” The woman said as she shut down the computer and picked up a file.

“John,” Alex’s voice came up over his comm unit. “We are having trouble making a link for the video signal to the Monmouth. Can you come down to the Captain’s conference room and take a look at it?”

“I’ll be there in five minutes.” John responded, suiting actions to words and leaving the bridge.

When he got to the conference room, John took a look at the system and couldn’t find anything wrong with it. “I don’t know what to tell you, the equipment is perfect. Maybe there is a problem on Lee’s end?”

“He was supposed to make a report an hour ago,” General Washington stood with his arms crossed over his chest. “I know he’s been chomping at the bit to make more speed to the EADN Network, but I’ve been telling him to take a break. We can’t run the engines of these ships too hard, especially the larger ones.”

The general trailed off, frowning at the blank screen. Finally he said, “Try to hail the Monticello.”

John did. No responce.

“There’s some kind of interference, sir.” John responded, continuing to attempt a link to either ship. “We were experiencing some strange static with the communications devices earlier on the bridge. I thought it might have been faulty wiring. But…”

Just then, the ship’s emergency protocols activated. Sirens and flashing lights went off all over the ship and the calm robotic voice of the prerecorded emergency message ‘All personnel to emergency stations.’ repeating over and over. All three of their comm units erupted with the voice of Lieutenant General Knox, “All command personnel to the bridge immediately!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which the Schyler sisters are sneaky little shits, and Eliza and Maria have a talk. Idk if that was the way “the talk” should go? I have been in a grand total of one relationship and it was weird… I suck at that shit.
> 
> And wait… is that the beginning of an actual plot I see at the end there???? What is the world coming to???????
> 
> (Side note: I has a Tumblr. If anyone wants to come say hi! immadoathing.tumblr.com)


	8. Follow Where They Lead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out the two snippets that I posted! The first is called “Red Heat” the second is “Call Me John Laurens” they are part of a contest I'm holding to see what I focus on after this fic is done! Vote by commenting/giving kudos to which ever one you want to see worked on the most!! The contest closes January 5, 2017!
> 
> Lots of pain in this chapter. Sorry, but things needed to start moving forward. 
> 
> Also, do you like marshmallows or whipped cream on your hot cocoa? I prefer whipped cream, but I won’t say no to marshmallows if there isn’t whipped cream. I ask because I'm cold and I make my own hot cocoa with Dark Cocoa powder and a little bit of cinnamon! Its delicious, but it makes scary black hot cocoa. Which is pretty cool.

Just then, the ship’s emergency protocols activated. Sirens and flashing lights went off all over the ship and the calm robotic voice of the prerecorded emergency message ‘All personnel to emergency stations.’ repeating over and over. All three of their comm units erupted with the voice of Lieutenant General Knox, “All command personnel to the bridge immediately!”

The three men hit the halls at a run. There was only one thing that could make the Immovable Object that was Lieutenant General Henry Knox sound that scared. Death. And lots of it.

“What has happened?” George yelled the second he was in earshot of the bridge.

“We have not been able to hail any of the expedition ships, sir. There is a foreign signal interfering with our communications signals.” Burr said as he pulled up a screen filled with static. The static was pulsing, however, in regular intervals.

“Morse Code?” John asked.

“Correct.” Burr continued. “It is a message from what is left of the Monmouth. There is an invasion force making way towards Earth. The Monmouth’s captain ordered the ship to attack and they were decimated. The message we are receiving is being routed through one of the short-range shuttles that were able to escape. It seems that the invasion fleet is more interested in the planet than picking off survivors.”

“How long can people survive on the shuttles?” General Washington asked.

“A week at most.” Alex answered, his face grim. “Even if we ran all nine engines, we couldn’t make it to the Monticello’s last position in less than two…”

“Check the last known positions of all other expedition ships. See if Theo is close enough to catch them.” General Washington ordered.

“Even if she was, sir, we can’t get the message to her to change course. The foreign signal is jamming all of our communications. We can’t even send word back to Earth right now.” A young woman spoke.

“And we have no way of knowing how fast these alien ships are traveling…” Washington said more to himself than to anyone on the bridge. “I want everyone working on getting us communications back. The second we can get a message out send it. For now, we make all haste to the last known position of the Monmouth.”

“But sir, the planet.” Alex interjected.

“Has it’s own defenses.” Washington stated. “Our priority needs to be saving anyone who made it out of the Monmouth. Without us, every single man and woman will die.”

 

***

 

It took them eight days to reach the small band of shuttles limping in the direction of the Revolution’s known flight path. The second the last shuttle was on the ship, the Revolution set out towards Earth, running five engines to conserve fuel and keep the engines from breaking down. Running as hard as they could, they wouldn’t reach the planet for almost another four months.

The signal was still sending all far range communications into static and they had no idea whether any of the other expedition ships were able to decipher the message or if they were even aware that anything was wrong. John and all of the other computer and communications specialists were working around the clock to break the signal. Unfortunately, they were still not getting anywhere. The code of the signal was in a language never seen before. They had no idea where to even start.

The injured men and women were taken aboard the ship and the survivors painted a clear image of what had happened.

“We didn’t even see them commin’” One of the survivors said. She was sitting on Eliza’s exam table, one arm held out to the side as Eliza stitched up a gash that stretched from shoulder to wrist. She was exhausted and pale from blood loss, but she had a sense of calm determination about her. General Washington, Alex and John were there to hear her testimony. “It was just sudden static on all the systems and then they were there. The general told us to get to battle stations and instead of running we met them head on. We didn’t stand a chance.”

She shook her head in sorrow. Grimacing when Eliza’s needle hit a nerve. Eliza asked, “Do you need more pain medication?”

“Save it for the others that need it more.” Came the response. “Anyway, those of us that were lucky enough to make it to the shuttles were able to watch the whole fleet go past us. At least fifty ships, all the size of the Revolution or bigger. Guess they thought us unimportant, hell I thought we weren’t important enough to have anyone come and save us. But we needed to do something and no one else was making any sense, so I told all the shuttles to make for the Revolution’s flight path. It was a toss up between you and General Prevost’s bucket, but I figured you havin the smaller ship you’d be faster. Not that I actually thought you’d be commin, just needed something to tell everyone else so we didn’t kill each other.”

General Washington’s hand gripped the opposite shoulder from the one Eliza was working on. “You did the right thing, soldier.”

“Its just Dolly Payne. I was a cook and a primary grades teacher if little ‘uns came a long on the Monmouth. Didn’t think I had it in me to lead people nowhere.”

“Well I think you’ve more than earned the rank of Corporal, Corporal Payne.” General Washington responded. “We are going to need your cool head in charge of soldiers as soon as you’re well enough to do so.”

“As soon as this young lady finishes with my arm, I’ll be ready for duty, sir.” Dolly responded. Her back straightened and a bit of steel entered her eye. She saluted General Washington, with the wrong arm but the other was still being tended to.

General Washington returned the salute and left her in the care of Eliza. Alex and John followed the general.

“What was Lee thinking?” Alex asked as soon as they were out of earshot. “Our ships are ill prepared for battle, we were on a mission to do research and set up the defense network, not meet an alien invasion!”

“Alex-“ John began.

“No! I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but that idiot got thousands of people killed because instead of retreating and getting us word of an attack force, he decided to play hero and attack with a research ship! Now we have less time, less people, we are missing a ship, we can’t contact any of the other ships or colonies in the path of the fleet, and we have a thousand injured people to tend to.”

“One thousand, seven hundred and seventy seven souls added to the Revolution’s ranks, to be exact.” Aaron Burr met them at the door to the bridge. “Not all of them need medical attention. Most are already integrating with the Revolution’s crew, working to help us make haste after the invasion fleet.”

“Make sure Corporal Payne, gets command of one of the shuttle battalions.” General Washington told Alex. “I want her cool head out on the battle field when the time comes. Anyone who can get people to like them and follow where they lead in a situation such as she just led her people out of needs to be put in command where they can count.”

“Yes, sir.” Alex said, he was pulling up the available shuttle and ammunition lists and organizing them into battalions and strike wings already. A pilot, two marksmen, and a Private First Class to command were assigned to each shuttle.

“Have the computer techs had any progress on the signal?” The general asked John.

John huffed, “None whatsoever.”

“Keep at it. Burr, see if any of the Monmouth’s crew were tech people, have them report to John a.s.a.p. I want every single person who’s able working on getting through the signal.”

“Yes, sir.” Burr left to find a list of personnel that had just boarded.

“Nate.” The man in question seemed to materialize at Washington’s side. “Make sure we aren’t running the engines too hard, keep five of them going at all times, but make sure to rotate them. We have to move as fast as possible, but we can’t afford to break down.”

“On it.” Nate said over his shoulder as he left the bridge to complete his task.

“Knox.” Washington turned to the man in question, who stood at attention. “I want every single person who’s able to fly a shuttle or shoot a gun scheduled on simulators, we have a little over three months before we can reach the Earth, we need to turn ourselves into a fighting fleet before then.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Public Service Announcement: Dolly Madison, Payne in this fic cuz she hasn’t met Madison yet, is a BAMF. 
> 
> And whoah! What happened to Lee’s traditional ‘Retreat!” Like what???? I’d call that overcorrecting. Especially because these ships were designed for research… What was he thinking???
> 
> Talk to me people, I'm getting lonely... Tumblr is @immadoathing


	9. Gilded Cages

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out the two snippets that I posted! The first is called “Red Heat” the second is “Call Me John Laurens” they are part of a contest I'm holding to see what I focus on after this fic is done! Vote by commenting/giving kudos to which ever one you want to see worked on the most!! The contest closes January 5, 2017!
> 
> This chapter brought to you by my horrible childhood. Although I recognize that others have had a lot of worse experiences with being ostracized and even worse things… 
> 
> I'm also super nervous about how this chapter is going to come across.......... I wanted to go a little bit more into the racism thing that I've been writing about...... Coming from my perspective I realize that I have still probably experienced it from a place of privilege and I'm honestly not trying to piss anyone off… But judging people based on stereotypes really pisses me off and I wanted to write about it.
> 
> *As always French at the end of the chapter.*

Eliza had lost track of just how long she had been working. She had had a few fifteen-minute naps, but there were people in pain that needed attention. She just couldn’t leave them. It could have been day three, or four, or fourteen. She couldn’t get her brain to focus on trivial matters such as the passage of time.

She was swaying back and forth over a man’s bandaged arm when Lafayette found her.

“ _Non_! You will not stay here one second longer, _médecin juste_.” He took the stethoscope from her hand and passed it on to a nurse.

“I can’t leave, Laf.” She replied. “I have to stay and help. We don’t have enough doctors.”

“You can, you don’t, and we do.” Lafayette replied as he pulled her out of the med bay. “Besides I just left _Mon Amour_ in your place, he has medical experience enough to cover for you while you get some rest.”

“But…” Eliza tried to refute Lafayette’s argument.

“I was sent by _Ma Pétale_.” Lafayette changed tactics. “She has not seen you for almost a week, she is beside herself with worry. You will not worry _ton bien-aimé_ , would you?”

“Maria’s worried?” Eliza asked, the lack of sleep turning her into a child. A tiny part of her mind registered that it had only been a week since the survivors of the Monmouth had been rescued and brought aboard the ship. She whined and looked like she was about to cry. “I don’t want Maria to worry about me…”

“We are going to go show Maria just how well you are and allow her to take care of you, non?” Lafayette was almost carrying Eliza down the hall.

“But then I have to go back to work.” Eliza just wouldn’t let it go.

“Bien, but first Maria.”

“I like Maria.” Eliza mumbled as they made their way down an indistinguishable hall. “She’s nice. You’re nice too, sometimes. Like now, you’re being nice. I like you when you’re nice.”

“That is surprising, I did not think you liked me very much.” If Lafayette had been thinking straight, he wouldn’t have responded, but it had been a horrible week for everyone.

Lafayette had one hand on Eliza’s elbow and the other between her shoulder blades, using these points of contact to steer the woman towards her bunk. Suddenly, Eliza planted her feet and turned, it overbalanced Lafayette and he found himself against the wall of the corridor with Eliza staring intently at him.

“What made you think that I didn’t like you?” Eliza asked, frown on her face as she held herself up with a hand on the wall next to Lafayette’s head. To be honest, Lafayette found it a little intimidating.

Lafayette took a few seconds to assess the situation. He really didn’t want to have to have this conversation again. Not that he’d had it with Eliza before, just people like her. Didn’t want to have to explain why racism was wrong or have to justify his existence. He wasn’t even sure if the woman was going to be able to focus on the conversation… Eliza had gotten less than twenty-four hours of sleep in the last week, if the logs were to be believed; she was probably delirious with sleep deprivation and keeping herself upright through sheer determination. She was also working her way to very upset over the idea that Lafayette thought she didn’t like him. Even in her current state, Lafayette decided that the truth would be accepted more quickly than a lie. Hopefully she would let it go and he could just deposit her with Maria and leave.

“I believed that you were anti-alien.” Lafayette began, and continued over Eliza’s shocked face and wordless exclamation. “You yelled at me the first time we met, brushed me off for my human partner. At the dinner party you were obviously uncomfortable from the second you walked into Alexander’s quarters. You grew up in a Dome and choose to continue your higher education in the dome colleges and hospitals whereas your sisters left at their first chance-“

“Whoah, slow down.” Eliza put her other hand on Lafayette’s shoulder. “You thought I was racist?”

“I have a few experiences with you that seemed to prove my point,” Lafayette responded, “But you are good to _Ma Pétale_ so I chose to limit my contact with you and I decided that we would have it out, as the Americans say, at a later date.”

“The first time we met doesn’t count.” Eliza began, squinting her eyes. Lafayette could see her mind making the nural connections to remember back that far, either she was that close to him, or that tired that the feat took much effort. Lafayette suspected a combination of the two. “I yelled at you because you were interfering with my examination of your partner. And I focused on him, because that’s my job. He was my patient and I needed to learn the extent of his illness and prescribe medication that would not interfere with any of his current medications as well as with his ability to do his job. I was being professional.”

“But-“ Lafayette was cut off again, he was not used to not being allowed to speak and he couldn’t say that he enjoyed it.

“At the dinner party, I was in a very revealing dress that I had to borrow from Maria. For Christ’s sake it still smelled like her! And I thought you were flirting with her, I was jealous. I also thought you were flirting with me, and I am definitely not on your team. You are a very handsy person, and I am not. You were making me uncomfortable. And as for choosing to stay in the Domes? They were able to offer the best medical programs in the solar system; I would have been crazy to turn down the education just because it was within a Dome. Which, by the way, the colleges are extremely liberal; it’s just the rest of the domes that harbor anti-alien sentiments.” Eliza pushed herself off of the wall and crossed her arms.

“I don’t know what to say.” Lafayette was shocked at the amount of information that had poured out of the small woman.

“Not that its any of your business, but my plan after college was to take the education that I received and open a chain of free clinics in low income areas with my trust fund, because my parents were able to cover the costs of my college education. I was going to make sure that my clinics worked with the best equipment and the most modern techniques because every being deserves the same right to live free from disease whether or not they can pay for the medical procedures.” Eliza shrugged. “That plan is still in the works, but the opportunity to join this expedition came up and I had to take it.”

“I apologize, I seem to have misjudged you…” Lafayette began.

Eliza rubbed her face and seemed to deflate. “No, I should be the one apologizing. I have no right to be offended that you thought I was racist. We haven’t had many interactions and they have all been at bad times where misunderstandings were easy to arise.”

Lafayette smiled, “I accept your apology, mademoiselle Schuyler. I have one question though.”

Eliza shot him a suspicious glance as they both continued the trek to Eliza’s quarters. “Shoot.”

“Why didn’t you say something about being uncomfortable with physical interactions?” Lafayette asked. “I am, how you say, curious. When I though you were racist, it was a fun way for me to get under your skin, you should see what I do whenever General Jefferson and I are in the same room. The man is a pig. However, I would have stopped instantly if you had only said something.”

It took Eliza a few moments to respond. “Where I grew up, you had to swallow what was given to you or be ostracized or worse outright harmed. Not that we weren’t already on the outside looking in. My family was so different from any of those living in the Domes. My father spent all of his time trying to change the opinions of our neighbors, or to better the lives of those not ‘fortunate’ enough to live in the Domes.” She laughed bitterly. “As if the Domes are the perfect iteration of society. I’ve been to all alien neighborhoods that were more welcoming and accepting than the fucking Domes ever were. It caused the families to stay away from us. Even the kids wouldn’t play with my siblings and I at school. Even parents would give us dirty looks around town. Hostility. It was always there under the surface. The Domes really are the worst place to grow up. Gilded cages filled with bigots and hypocrites. People pretend to care about each other and backstab every chance they got. I had to choose between getting into fights every day, like Peggy and Angelica, or keep my head down and wait for the day I could get out. At least I found a way to game the system, take what I learned in the Domes and try to help as many people as possible. I'm not saying it wasn’t lonely, but we had each other and that was enough.”

“I understand where you’re coming from. I grew up in much the same predicament, French nobility are somewhat of a viperous group.” Lafayette reached out to hug the woman before hesitating.

Eliza smiled sadly and leaned into the embrace. The contact seemed to drain all the rest of her energy though and Lafayette kept his arm around her shoulders as they completed their journey to Eliza’s quarters. “I think we’ve reached that point in our relationship, Laf. Just no kissing of any kind.”

“I should say so,” Maria had apparently been waiting at the door. “This one’s all mine, Laffy. And I'm a jealous lover!”

Seeing his task accomplished as he turned the exhausted Eliza over to Maria. Lafayette laughed to himself, _You learn something new everyday._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> médecin juste- Fair Doctor  
> ton bien-aimé- Your beloved  
> Bien- good
> 
> Yah……………


	10. Helpless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out the two snippets that I posted! The first is called “Red Heat” the second is “Call Me John Laurens” they are part of a contest I'm holding to see what I focus on after this fic is done! Vote by commenting/giving kudos to which ever one you want to see worked on the most!! The contest closes January 5, 2017!
> 
> Sorry the chapter is a little late, if anyone is actually waiting for the next chapter... I've caught a cold and have been running on autopilot at work for the past few days and then coming home and going straight to bed...
> 
> Warning!!!!! Lots of death at the beginning of this chapter. Holy crap. Yah……… sorry. 
> 
> Also Seabury is a dick.

Alexander was on the bridge when the first images began to flash across the once fuzzy screens. It had been a month and a half since what was becoming known on the ship as the Monmouth’s Folly. The Revolution still had another month at the least before it reached the planet if they pushed the engines. The computer techs still had not been able to crack the code that was jamming their communications, but apparently the invasion force had something they wanted everyone in the solar system to see.

“Get the general here now!” Alex commanded no one in particular, but someone was soon on the short comm units hailing the captain’s quarters.

The images first showed the Monmouth, speeding toward the cameras. Two bolts of light crossed the screen to the ship and in seconds the ship was so much space debris. The images changed to side views of the escape shuttles as the invasion fleet passed the wreckage.

“They had known there were survivors. Purposefully let them alone to die out in the black.” Alex muttered under his breath. These invaders would never return to their home system, if Alexander Hamilton had any say in it.

Then there were a few space stations that were unlucky enough to be in the path of the space fleet. These put up a bit more of a fight than the Monmouth. Alex recognized at least one enemy ship taken out by the pilots of the New Savannah Space Port. Then the enemy reached Mars. They were apparently systematically attacking each of the settlements on the planet. Returning the terraformed planet back to its rust red color. The people on Mars were fighting back however. Many of the alien ships sustained damage, but only a small section of the fleet stayed orbiting Mars. The rest continued on to Earth.

The screen then filled with the image of two men. The first was a militant looking man, completely white, skin, hair, and the irises of eyes. He had a golden crown on his head and a scepter in his had that he used to beat the other man. The second man was bruised, bloody and frankly a bit squirrely. He held a paper in his hand and flinched every time the first man moved. A smack of the scepter on the second man’s wrist prompted him to begin speaking.

“My name is Samuel Seabury. I present to the people of this solar system free thoughts on our new lords and masters, the Winorian Empire. I have been chosen by the King to express the best interests for the people.” Seabury began, a quaver in his voice.

“Lords and masters?” Alex scoffed.

“Is that Seabury?” Washington asked as he came to stand next to Alex.

“Yah, the little weasel must have transferred from Earth to Mars after he backed out of the expedition.” Alex said.

“What’s he doing?” Knox was also on the bridge.

“Probably kowtowing to the strongest faction.” Alex supplied. “Making sure that he’s on the strongest side.”

“He’s going to try to convince us to not fight back against this army.” John said a frown marring his face.

“As seen in the footage broadcast, the Winorian Empire is a mighty military presence in the galaxy. The King has laid claim to any and all resources in this solar system. Any resistance to their rule will be met with swift punishment. Rebellion is futile. To those who bow to his will, the King will show mercy. The King will allow any who pledge fealty to him to live as slaves under his regime. Those who do not are considered rebels and will be destroyed. This will extend to friends, family, spouses and children of any rebel. Their deaths will not be swift. Resistance of any kind will only be met with destruction.”

The King looked into the camera, parting his lips in an ugly scowl, he gave one nod and their images were replaced. The screen cut out to a live broadcast of the destruction of Mars. People were running but being cut down by shuttles as they searched for cover. The camera focused on the broken body of a little girl still clutching her teddy bear.

“Turn this off!” Washington commanded as Alex turned and lost his lunch into the nearest trash bin. From the sounds of the bridge, he wasn’t the only one.

“I’m trying sir. The only way we can stop it is to turn off our communications system completely…” someone said.

“And doing that, we can’t work on breaking their signal.” Washington supplied. He thought for a moment then ordered, “Then I want the power cut to all screens except those on the bridge. The rest of the ship doesn’t need to see this. And have engineering run seven engines at a time, we need to get to the Earth as fast as possible now that we know how fast the enemy is travelling.”

 

***

 

“I’ve done it!”

Alexander was sitting at his console on the bridge, his head in his hands with his elbows propped on the counter. Like everyone working on the bridge, he was being assaulted with the images being broadcast of the destruction of not only Mars, but also space stations and colonies by the Winorian Empire. There was no way to contact any of the military bases to coordinate attacks; no way to warn people on the other side of the solar system that destruction was on its way. There was only the sucking feeling of being helpless.

Alex rubbed his temples, hoping but not thinking for a moment that the pressure would release some of the pounding in his head. Tension on the ship was palpable. The moral of the crew tanking as each shift left the bridge to tell the rest of the ship what was happening. One of the cafeterias had been turned into a morbid viewing room at the request of some of the crew; they wished to see what the alien invaders were broadcasting. Probably hoping to not see family members running for their lives. Washington had allowed it, said they had a right to see if they wanted, but that the rest of the crew didn’t have to be bombarded by the sickening images.

“Lieutenant General Hamilton, I’ve done it!” One of the computer techs was furiously typing on her console. Her tone was half unsure, half triumphant.

“What?” Alex felt sluggish as he turned to the woman.

“The Communication code,” she said as Alex, Nate, and John all made their way over to her station. “I’ve cracked the code!”

John bent over the computer and watched a series of numbers cross the screen. Alex knew a great deal about a great many things, but computer programing had never been one of his talents. He looked as the scrolling numbers and saw nothing different from what had been scrolling on every computer tech’s screens for the last eight weeks.

“You see anything different?” Nate leaned in to ask Alex.

Alex shrugged but John perked up and crowed. “Yes!”

He pushed the man sitting at the next console out of his seat and pulled up the same screen, beginning to type just as furiously as the girl.

“Send someone to get Washington down here.” Nate turned to the man who had had his station stolen.

“No need, I'm here. What’s happened?” The general joined them as they stood around John and the girl’s stations. The two techs didn’t look up from the computers or acknowledge anyone else’s presence. They were working so quickly they weren’t even finishing their sentences, no one else could understand what was going on.

“What if you-“

“No we have to first-“

“Oh, yes! Of course. Then we could-“

“I'm already working on that.”

“Thank god they understand each other.” Nate grumbled.

“Would you like to enlighten us as to what has developed?” Burr said. He had wandered up, unnoticed. “At your earliest continence of course, John, Lieutenant Manning?”

“She found a way to worm around the signal already being broadcst.” John began.

“When they began broadcasting, they changed the code. Its like a two way street, but the other way has been blocked off. And I figured out how to get around the barrier.” Lieutenant Manning smiled, her eyes never leaving the screen, and her fingers never stopping their tapping on the keys of her console.

“Like a backdoor, Lieutenant Manning?” Washington asked.

“Actually that is what I'm coding into their broadcast right now. And call me Marty.” Lieutenant Manning, Marty responded.

“Attach it to a virus.” John said. Alex recognized hacker mode in his partner, the man would only respond is short sentences to questions directly addressed to him until whatever he was working on was finished.

“Yes! Then it would be near impossible to get out. They’d have to shut down their entire communications system to dig the damn thing out.” Marty, apparently didn’t have the same problem, she continued explaining to the computer illiterate surrounding the two hackers. She smiled wickedly, “That is if they ever find it. And until they do, we just have to piggyback off of their signal. We’ll be able to communicate and send our own messages.”

“Won’t they be able to see the communications?” Alex asked.

John shook his head but it was Marty who responded again. “We can make the communications invisible on any computer system using alien technology, well I mean invader alien technology. Enough of our tech has been updated with Ahmrakian crystal tech or Shairian circuiting. It would just look like a subroutine from their end, they’d think it’s harmless.”

“Sir,” Alex turned to General Washington. “I think it time you addressed the people.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seabury is a dick, I’ll say it again: Seabury is a dick.
> 
> I also like the idea of Martha being a computer hacker, may write more backstory between her and John? Maybe???? To break up some of the crazy angst coming up. 
> 
> I also have an angsty/fluffy scene between Laf and Herc coming up, thought it up just as I was writing this chapter.


	11. Out Gunned, Out Manned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm still sick... And I missed last Thursday's post....... Sorry all.... But for a Christmas Bonus I'm going to give everyone the first sections of the second chapters of both Red Heat and Call Me John Laurens! 
> 
> there's only a little over a week left in the contest-thingie! Let the countdown begin!!!!!
> 
> Check out the two snippets that I posted! The first is called “Red Heat” the second is “Call Me John Laurens” they are part of a contest I'm holding to see what I focus on after this fic is done! Vote by commenting/giving kudos to which ever one you want to see worked on the most!! The contest closes January 5, 2017!

Washington insisted on contacting the crews of the Monticello, the Sarasota, the Virginia, and the Yorktown before anything else was done. Calling them back from the edges of the solar system.

“It’s good to see your face, sir.” Theo said the second her image came across the screen. Her ship was the first to respond. “The second it was obvious that long range comms were down and it wasn’t a technical error, I ordered my ship to turn around. If you’ll excuse the presumption, sir.”

Washington smiled. “No, I was just about to order you to do just that. Where exactly are you located?”

“We are just about to cross the asteroid belt Earth-side, Sir.” Theo indicated a map of the solar system behind her. At this point of the year the Earth was opposite Mars on the other side of the Sun.

“Thank god for small blessings.” General Washington said. “Set your bearings straight towards Terra. As full a burn on your engines as you can get without blowing them.”

By then the other three captains had responded to the call.

“Let’s begin.” The general began but was cut off by Captain Jefferson.

“Where’s Lee? Why are we starting without him?” Jefferson asked, crossing his arms over his chest with a flourish.

George took a breath and straightened his shoulders. “I assume you all saw the broadcast this afternoon? Well the rest of the information that I have is this: Two months ago, our communications systems were disrupted by a signal turning everything to static. Shortly after an invasion fleet engaged General Lee’s ship, Lee and the Monmouth did not make it. Survivors from the ship were able to send a crude SOS and the Revolution made moves to intercept the survivor’s shuttles. We made it to the survivors in time and then drove our ship as hard as we could towards Earth.”

Sounds of distress came from the other captains; each person looking varying degrees of disturbed.

“If you haven’t already, I'm commanding each of you to turn your ships and return to the Earth.” The general ordered.

“After the Broadcast, I had my ship turn around.” Captain Addams said, the others nodding agreement.

“Do not, I repeat, DO NOT push your ships too hard. If you break down out there, we do not have the resources to come rescue you. I would rather you get here late than not at all. We need you to be the cavalry. I want Jefferson to stop at Ganymede base to pick up what supplies you can, outfit your shuttles for battle. Madison and Adams, do the same at the Thule Installation in the asteroid belt. I want your people training on combat maneuvers.”

“But we don’t have all military staff.” Adams interrupted. “This mission has too many non-combatants. Are we going to force people into military service?”

“I will be addressing that later today in a message to the whole solar system.” the General responded. “We have a way to make sure the invaders don’t see the message. I will give you more information when I have it. Keep me updated.”

With that, General Washington turned off the screen, ending the meeting.

 

***

 

“Almost ready.” Colonel Manning said as she tapped in the last few commands.

George Washington was in his full military regalia. It was admittedly an impressive sight. However the damn thing itched. He hated this part of command. He’d rather just lead his men into battle. Speeches made him uncomfortable.

Burr was set up behind the camera, fiddling with the lenses. Alexander was putting the finishing touches on his speech.

“Any way I can talk you guys out of making me do this?” he asked with a raised eyebrow and a half grin as Alexander brought him the completed speech.

Alex just laughed, passed him the papers and said, “No, sir.”

“My fellow citizens of the Terra System. I am General George Washington of the United Earth System Space Fleet. In the past few days we have seen unspeakable tragedy. Our home is being invaded. Our would be oppressors have laid claim to our resources and labeled our protection of our home “Rebellion.” Rest assured, you are not alone. We are here to resist this tyranny. The enemy may have us out gunned and out manned. But we have something they do not have: determination. The determination to protect what is ours. The determination to see these alien terrorists abolished. It is with this determination that we must take up arms to protect our home system.

“The enemy has bought themselves a spokesperson. They have and will try to convince you that resisting the invasion is futile. They want you to lie down and take what they deign to give to you. They know nothing about Terrans. They know nothing about the citizens of this system. Our strength lays in our ability to adapt, to out-last, our ability to take what we have and build greater. We will rise up from this tragedy. And we will come back stronger. Yes, we may be out gunned and out manned, but we out number them, and we can out plan them. This is our backyard, our terrain. Lets show them how foolish they were to pick a fight with us.”

Marty ended the transmission with the image of the United Earth System flag, the white interlocking rings surrounding a nine pointed star on an indigo plane. Each ring stood for a settlement off of the planet Earth; the nine-pointed star signified the nine planets in the solar system.

The sounds of cheers from the crew met the end of the broadcast. Washington hoped that others had seen the message and were taking hope that they were not alone.

 

***

 

Their first encounter with the enemy came a week after the broadcast.

Peggy was in a simulator, targeting fake enemy shuttles and picking them off neatly while explaining to the class of trainee gunmen what the best ways to attack were. She had lost a bet with one of the senior gunmen and got stuck with instructing chefs, scientists, and mechanics how to shoot. But the joke was on the other guy, she actually liked teaching, and she was damn good at it.

“The key is to anticipate where the enemy is going to be, and shoot ahead of them. If you shoot where the enemy is instead of where they will be, you’ll never hit a damn thing. The laser turrets are fast, but there will still be a delay. The thing you have to always keep in the front of your mind is that that ship,” she pointed at the screen, as the simulated enemy ship bared down on her, “is going to move, and your ship will as well. We don’t have the best shuttles for battle, so there is going to be a pilot driving the shuttle. You’d do well to get to know your pilot and their flying style so you can anticipate how your shuttle is going to move out there.”

She looked over the serious faces of her students. They were all getting better. In the week since she had lost the bet, each of them had increased accuracy by at least 10%.

“Any questions?” Peggy asked. A woman near the back raised her hand. “Yes…”

“Corporal Payne, call me Dolly. The ‘corporal’ is new.” The rest of the people in the room laughed and Dolly grinned and waved them all silent. “I was wondering if you could tell us what it feels like to be in battle? I know you’re young and probably haven’t been in a space war before, but you’ve experienced the War Games before haven’t you?”

Peggy took a deep breath; she had experienced the War Games, however they were nothing like actual battle. “What you see on TV every year, we call it the War Games, its nothing compared to being in a real battle. In situations where real bullets and lasers are shooting at you, one of three things will happen to you. For some people time speeds up, they don’t have to think about what they are doing. These people use their adrenaline and muscle memory to get them through to the other side. The second type of person will experience time slow down, it will give them the time to think and analyze possible moves. For these people their observation is heightened by the adrenaline of battle.”

Peggy paused, at a loss as to continue to the third type of person. Her class remained silent though, waiting for her to continue. “The third type of person will freeze in battle. No matter what they do, they won’t be able to do anything at all.”

“Is there a way to fight freezing?” a terrified young man asked Peggy.

“If you can get your wits together and focus, practice will help you. Making your muscles remember movements like aiming and shooting. You may be able to use muscle memory to trick your brain into commanding your body into movement. But you need to know your limits-“ Peggy was cut off by an alarm and Alexander’s voice over the intercom.

“All personnel to battle stations, this is not a drill. Enemy ship sighted. Prepare to engage!”

“Alright boys and girls! Time to see what kind of soldier you are!” Dolley called to the men and women in the room. Apparently all of these gunmen were in her battalion.

Peggy joined the others as they ran for their flight gear, suited up and met their pilots and first lieutenants at their ships.

“Ma Cherie!” Lafayette approached the shuttle he had dubbed the Fighting Frenchman with is arms wide, his helmet in his hands and the top half of his flight gear hanging from his waist. He pulled her into a hug, deposited kisses on each of her cheeks and would have picked her up if she hadn’t poked him in the ribs. Peggy rolled her eyes at Lafayette’s antics, laughed, and boarded the ship with Steve and Paul, their other gunman and first lieutenant. Paul started leading them through prelaunch checks. Lafayette continued talking over Paul, the four of them were used to it, they had been training together since Monmouth’s Folly. “What a glorious day it is. Are we ready to meet the invaders and détruire leur volonté? Les faire rentrer à la maison chez leur mere?”

“Nobody here speaks French, Laf.” Steve called from the port gun station, flicking switches and checking readouts on power supply and weapon mechanics.

“Uncultured swine!” Lafayette responded, closing the shuttle door and starting up the engines.

“Check status of all gun functions.” Paul commanded.

“All green, sir” Peggy and Steve responded.

“Flight function status?” Paul logged the readouts.

“Vert.” Lafayette responded.

“Take us out in formation at the colonel’s command.” Paul stated.

They weren’t part of Colonel Dolly’s battalion. Peggy didn’t much like their commander. But she followed his orders because that was her job.

When the command came, the Fighting Frenchman rose off of the hangar floor, joined the rest of their battalion and placed itself at the fore of the Revolution. The enemy ship was a few thousand miles away, coming in fast. At the first sight of the enemy, the Revolution had stopped advancing to give more time for the shuttles to prepare themselves. Now the shuttles and the ship advanced in unison on the enemy.

Peggy had a crazy image of two opposing armies meeting on opposite sides of a battlefield ranging their men out and advancing on each other. Like an old fashioned war. Then she had no time to think as the enemy shuttles spewed from the main ship and began attacking the Revolution and the shuttles.

Lafayette was a magician. His control of the ship was peerless as he wove them around enemy shuttles and friendly ships alike. She and Steve picked off the enemy ships that got too close like flies. The four of them were a well-oiled machine. While flying though debris and other shuttles he also kept up a running commentary, flirting with his shipmates and cursing the other ships, enemy and friendly alike.

A distress call came over the comms, Maria. “I can’t shake these damn shuttles!”

Peggy looked at her view screen and, sure enough, four enemy ships were tailing Maria’s Desert Rose. “Laf!”

“On it, Petit!” Lafayette raced after the five shuttles. Peggy was able to take out two of the followers, Steve one, but the final ship was able to clip the wing of Maria’s ship sending it spinning off course.

“Damn,” Peggy yelled as she gunned down the last shuttle and Lafayette guided the Fighting Frenchman to assist the Desert Rose back to the Revolution.

Paul called in the return of both ships just before the enemy ship began a retreat. A few of the Revolution’s shuttles followed the retreat of the enemy, picking off what shuttles they could before returning to the Revolution.

“That was fun, non?” Lafayette asked as he set the shuttle down in the hanger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> détruire leur volonté- Destroy their will.  
> Les faire rentrer à la maison chez leur mere- make them run home to their mothers  
> Vert- green 
> 
> Flirty Laf ha ha ha! I love my babies!!!


	12. Focus on the Silver Lining

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good lord, this chapter is a monster… It’s 12 pages in my word document… 3960-ish words… I'm intimidated by how much I wrote…
> 
> I'm definitely earning the new warnings I added back in Chapter 4 with this one, guys… I'm going to need y’all to hang in there, lots of pain coming up…
> 
> The chapter is doing a little bit of an overlap of the same few moments from a lot of character’s perspectives. Hopefully it’s not too confusing. I’ve re-read this chapter about 200 times to try and make sure that it’s understandable. 
> 
> But you get a bit from Washington’s perspective in this one so: Woo Hoo! Do what the chapter title says and focus on the silver linings.
> 
> JUST ONE WEEK LEFT TO DECIDE WHICH PROJECT I WORK ON NEXT!!!!!!!!   
> Check out Red Heat and Call Me John Laurens and vote by commenting and leaving kudos!!!!

Alexander Hamilton had a problem. He desperately needed to lead at least a battalion in to battle, but Washington was refusing to allow him to leave the ship.

“Sir, I had top marks in my piloting exams!” He tried to reason with the general.

“No, Lieutenant General.”

“But I am also an excellent marksman!” Alex realized that he was being obnoxious; he was following the general around Washington’s private conference room as the two of them strategized. However, the part of him that cared, the one that kind of sounded like John, was being gagged and tied up by the larger part of Alexander, the one that wanted to lead soldiers into glorious battle. The Little John in his head should be proud that he had made sure to talk to the general in private about this instead of just finding him on the bridge and demanding a battalion to lead.

“No, Mr. Hamilton.” George moved a piece on the board in front of them. The enemy had taken to hit and run tactics. They had the faster ships. They were able to attack Terran targets and leave the area fast enough that they sustained minimal damage. It was draining their resources. The ships of the fleet, although none had had catastrophic failures, were all in dire need of assistance. The Space Fleet needed to find a way to cripple the enemy’s superior engines…

“But, Sir-“

“Alexander!” Washington turned to Alex, rising to his full height and towering over the younger man. “You need to put this to rest, son. I have you exactly where I need you. You will lead a battalion when I decide I need you to lead. Unless you have anything else you need to discuss with me, you are dismissed.”

“I'm not your son.” He muttered under his breath. Alex considered continuing to argue, but Little John kneed Little Alex in the groin and started to shriek at him to turn and leave the room. Fuming, he left to find Real John and get some comfort. He searched his and John’s quarters and the mess hall and was about to search the bridge for his partner. He needed to at least vent to someone, he even considered finding Burr to talk to. But he wasn’t that desperate. Yet.

That was when all hell broke loose.

 

***

 

It was almost the end of Hercules’ shift. All he wanted to do was go find his partner, a shower, and his bed. In that order, preferably with the partner in both the shower and the bed with him.

He was checking the cooling system for engine 5 and logging the levels. The engine was next on rotation for shut down and refurbishment. They needed to rotate the working engines so that there was less of a chance of failure. The engines were not designed to run for weeks on end.

The Revolution especially was designed specifically for the expedition. Its engines were made for long, slow pushes out to the edge of the solar system, not quick punches of speed to get them into and out of the thick of battle; it’s shields were designed only to deflect space debris. On the return trip after Monmouth’s Folly, the ship’s engineers were able to boost the shields by connecting the generators to one of the engines, but this meant that it took one of the nine engines out of the rotation at all times so that they could always be prepared for battle.

A small alarm brought Herc’s attention to one of the regulating valves for fuel consumption.

“Bridge, this is Engineer Hercules Mulligan.” Herc called to the bridge over the comm. “Engine 5 is giving me a fuel regulator valve warning, could you check on it from your end?”

“Of course, Mulligan.” An officer stated. After a few seconds, he responded, “Nothing from our end, Mulligan. Try resetting the regulator sensor.”

“Already on it.” Hercules said he had initiated the reset soon after the alarm had gone off. As he waited for the reset protocol to run, he smiled and waved to a group of engineers coming on deck to relieve the shift.

The sensor came back on and immediately gave the same warning. “Bridge, I'm still getting the same error.”

“This engine is set for repairs beginning the next shift,” the man began.

“I’d recommend initiating the shutdown early, we don’t need any failures.” Hercules said to the officer on the bridge.

“We will take that into consideration.” The man replied, “Contacting the General now.”

Hercules waited, preforming the reset another time and then beginning a run of diagnostics to determine if there was a computer error. He would have physically walked to the part in question if it wasn’t under layers of other elements of the engine.

“Mulligan?” the officer said, making sure he was still waiting. After Herc’s affirmative he continued, “General says begin shutdown.”

“Acknowledged.” Hercules began the sequences, also making sure to notify the other engineers to begin shutdown of engine 5.

Suddenly the stress of the last few months and the failing part combined. Hercules had time to recognize the more serious alarms going off before engine 5 experienced catastrophic failure. Hercules’ world was consumed by fire, explosive sound and pain before going black.

 

***

 

“Sir, there is a problem being reported from engine 5.” Washington was still in his conference room when a technician from the bridge called him on his comm. “The engineer reporting the problem is requesting we begin the refurbishment of engine 5 early.”

“How early, exactly?” Washington asked, leaving the room and beginning the walk to the bridge.

“Just a few hours. Engine 5 is the next engine up for refurbishment.” The man on the comm replied.

“Go ahead, soldier. Better safe than sorry.” Washington stated as he finished his walk to the bridge. He was just reaching one of the doorways to the bridge when the entire ship shuttered and lurched to the side. Everyone on the bridge was thrown from chairs and consoles.

Washington was thrown into the room, smacking his head on a console and blacking out for a few moments. He came to with Burr kneeling above him waving pungent smelling salts under his nose.

“Ugghhhh…” Washington waved Burr’s salts to the side and began to sit up. “What the hell happened?”

“One of the engines seems to have experienced a failure, sir.” Burr responded as he pulled Washington to his feet. “Did you sustain head trauma, sir?”

“Just a bruise.” Washington rubbed the spot on his head (It may have been more than a bruise, but he didn’t have time for a concussion at the moment.), and moved to the center of the room where the captain’s chair was located. Burr followed, as well as Knox, Nate, and John. Alexander came running onto the bridge seconds later.

“Sir, what-” Alexander began, but Washington cut him off.

“I want all the shuttles that haven’t sustained damage scrambled. Knox, this may just be an engine failure, but it could be sabotage. Until we get this sorted out, we are sitting ducks; even if this weren’t the enemy, they would be stupid to not take advantage if they came across us in this situation.”

Knox turned to follow orders at a run. “Nate, Burr, see that every single crew member is accounted for. I want a list of injuries, I want to see where each injured person is, and I want teams working to get us moving again.

“John, see what programs were knocked offline, and get me a link to the rest of the Space Fleet. We need to find out if there are any friendly ships in the area that can come watch our backs.” John, Nate and Burr went to fulfill their tasks.

“Alexander, see to organizing the repair crews. I need to make sure the other engines are working in the green before we can move the ship. Also begin an investigation as to the nature of the engine failure. Where is the pilot on duty?” Washington asked the room in general.

“The explosion threw him from his station,” one of the crew stated. “We had to take him to the infirmary because of a concussion and a broken jaw.”

“Somebody get me someone who can reliably pilot this ship!”

 

***

 

Eliza was in one of the mess halls on level 6 when she felt the entire ship shutter. She dropped her plate in the cleaning line automatically without eating and headed down the hall leading to Med Bay 6 at a run. She was already running through possibilities for the reason for the shutter so she was partially prepared for the lurch and rock the ship gave as the explosion tore through. She had a hold of one of the railings in the hall, which was a blessing, as she didn’t fall. She turned the last corner towards the Med Bay and slowed as she entered the room.

It was a mad house.

Nurses were running in every direction, some equipment that hadn’t been secured was toppled on the floor; containers of cotton balls and other medical sundries were rolling across the floor.

“Oh, thank god!” Susan stopped in front of her, she was the nurse who worked closest with Eliza. She was holding packets of syringes and had a small cut on her cheek.

“Where’s Fredrickson?” Eliza asked as she slipped into a white coat to cover her scrubs, naming the lead doctor for Med Bay 6.

“We called him but either he’s knocked out, or ignoring us because today’s his day off.” Susan replied and turned to relieve herself of the syringes. By then the other doctors on call had made their way to the Med Bay. They were loosely ringed around Eliza and Susan, in various stages of emergency prep. “We need someone to take control of this situation.”

“Do we know what happened at least?” Eliza asked to put off the decision that no one seemed to want to make.

“Engine 5 had a catastrophic failure as they were shutting it down for referb.” One of the doctors said.

Eliza nodded; her mind was going a mile a minute. They needed to do so much… but they really needed someone to take control and direct the doctors and nurses to care for the injured as they started coming onto the bay. She looked at the most senior doctor, “We need—“

But she stopped; the man was steadfastly refusing to look her in the eyes. He was a great doctor, a good man to keep things running smoothly, not the type to bring order to chaos. He was not the type of person who could control this situation. Eliza looked at each of the other doctors and realized that she was going to have to take control.

“We need to set up a triage system… we need to pick up all this equipment… ” She said mostly to herself before straightening her back and pitching her voice so that all the doctors and nurses could hear her. Everyone, even the nurses and doctors who were running to check the equipment, stopped to listen to her commands. She pointed to two doctors and two nurses in turn, “You two, I want you to get down to Engine 5 and assist in moving patients, start whatever triage you can organize on site. You two set this bay to rights. I want all of you checking supply levels until we start getting patients, we cannot run out of supplies. This is going to be long, it’s going to be hard, but we are the closest Med Bay to Engine 5 so most of the injured are coming here.”

“They were in the middle of a shift change, Doctor.” One of the nurses stated, fear dripping from her tone and posture. “We can’t take that many people.”

“Then I want you to contact Bays 4 and 9.”Eliza said, naming the two closest med bays. “Let them know we are going to be sending them our non-critical overflow. And I want to set up a triage team. Anyone who can walk him or herself and doesn’t have head injuries needs to be sent down to 4. All other non-life threatening injuries go to 9. The most critical injuries keep here.”

She looked over the med bay and at the nurses and other doctors, “Get ready, people, this is going to take a lot of work and even more luck.”

 

***

 

Angelica was checking the navigation systems in her shuttle, the Common Sense, when the explosion rocked the ship. She was thankfully strapped into the pilot’s seat because she was preparing to start the engines of the shuttle so that she and the shuttle engineers could run diagnostics, so she was not thrown down.

A flying piece of equipment, however, did hit her in the arm and a line of fire opened on her forearm. She looked at it and saw blood dripping down her fingers. Gingerly she tested her fingers and hissed as pain shot up to her brain, but was relieved that her hand still moved.

“Angie?!?” Peggy’s voice came to her from the rear of the ship. “Are you here? Are you alright?”

“I'm here, I'm bleeding.” Angelica replied, pulling her arm close to her body and trying to reach the harness release with her wrong hand.

“Here, I’ve got you.” Peggy was there, pulling the release and making a sling with her jacket.

“I don’t think it’s broken, just a cut.” Angelica said and Peggy instead wrapped the jacket around Angelica’s wounded arm.

“Lets get you to Eliza, ok?” Peggy said, pulling her older sister out of her chair and supporting her through the shuttle and out of the Launch Bay.

They were almost barred from entering Med Bay 6 by one of the nurses. She gave them a green tag after seeing Angelica’s arm and directed them to Med Bay 9. Fortunately, Susan walked past and recognized them, “Let them in, they’re with me.”

“Why were we going to be redirected all the way to Bay 9?” Angelica asked, indignantly.

“Engine 5 was the site of the explosion and they were in the middle of a shift change.” Susan explained over her shoulder, leading them to a semi private corner of the rapidly filling Bay. “There are too many people to cover in just this Med Bay so your sister had us start triage. The head doctor is not responding to comms, so she took control.”

“Good to know,” Peggy murmured as Eliza turned the corner.

“Just a cut on my arm,” Angelica registered fear in Eliza’s eyes as she recognized both of her sisters in the med bay. She raised her wrapped arm and quickly put it back down with a hiss, “And probably one hell of a bruise everywhere else.”

Eliza made quick work of divesting Angelica of Peggy’s bloody jacket and cleaned the wound. She began work on closing the gash, “You’re lucky, and you only need a few stiches.”

“Liza, can you fix it so that she still can move the hand?” Peggy asked with a worried frown.

“Yes, but it won’t be fun to move it…” Eliza finished the stiches and began wrapping with a regular gauze bandage instead of a more high-tech Bio-stimulator. The Bio-Stimulator would have made the flesh heal faster, but it would mean that Angelia would be unable to move her arm below the elbow. “Why?”

Peggy frowned again. “Ship’s not moving. Protocol is to scramble the shuttles, check remaining engines for green status and begin to move us to a more secure location. Even if the more secure location is only hiding behind a moon. We should be moving and we aren’t.”

“So, what?” Eliza was in doctor-mode, “You’re going to drag our injured sister to the bridge and plop her down in the pilot’s console and tell her to drive this ship?”

“That’s exactly what I'm going to do,” Peggy checked her comm; a text message from Lafayette asking where she was, another informing her that the Flying Frenchman was leaving the Launch Bay, and a final asking her to stay safe wherever she was. “It’s not ideal, but it has to be done. If there is another pilot on the bridge, I’ll send Angie back to the nearest med bay and let her get a Stimulator, until then, we need her dexterity.”

“Just give me something for the pain,” Angelica said and slipped off of the table. Eliza gave her a shot for the pain and the two Schuylers were off.

They made it to the bridge in record time to find General Washington gazing at the pilot’s console in confusion and addressing the bridge in general. “You can’t tell me that no one else on this bridge knows how to fly this ship?”

“Sir.” Peggy came to attention right behind the General. He turned and dismissed the salute and gestured for her to speak. “I thought we may need a pilot, sir, I brought one. Angelica Schuyler.”

“Schuyler?” General Washington asked, obviously noting the name on Peggy’s uniform.

“My sister, sir.” Peggy replied.

“Have you ever had to fly one of these things, Schuler?” Washington asked.

“Not once, sir” Angelica replied, and continued while the General raised an eyebrow, “but I have logged in over 200 hours on the simulators since the beginning of the expedition and the control panels are almost identical to freight haulers, sir.”

“Are you able to pilot this thing, Schuyler?” Washington said nodding to her gauze-wrapped wrist.

“I can fly anything, General Washington.” Angelica stated as she sat at the pilot’s console, suiting actions to words. Slowly the EUSSF Revolution began to move.

 

***

 

Lafayette was stuck in a shuttle flying circles around the Revolution. It had been hours since the explosion. He had listened as, one after another; people were checked in and declared safe and alive. An hour ago, Peggy had checked in, she was boarding the Desert Rose with Maria, the shuttle sustaining minimal damage and still able to fly. Lafayette had breathed a sigh of relief that she was unharmed. At each new name, his heart would rejoice, so many uninjured or only with minor bumps and cuts. But also with each name his stomach would sink, there was a name that he needed to hear so desperately. Engine 5 was Hercules’ assigned engine… but It had happened at the end of Hercules’ shift, Lafayette held out hope that he had already left the engine before the explosion.

“All shuttles, be advised.” John’s voice came across the ship-to-shuttle radios, “Three unidentified ships, inbound. Two ships to the aft of the Revolution, and one to starboard. Ship-to-ship communications links are down; we don’t know if any of the inbound ships are friendly.”

Lafayette cursed in every language he knew. He needed to know where Hercules was, if he was all right. He didn’t need to be fighting three enemy ships.

It was a tense few moments as all three ships advanced on the Revolution. It was one of those times that religious men would recite their prayers, if all of these ships were enemies, they would not survive this battle.

The single ship to the starboard was the first to get close enough to engage. An enemy ship… It sent out its own shuttles and a third of the Revolution’s shuttles were engaging. Lafayette braced to meet the enemy coming up from the aft with the other two thirds of the Revolution’s shuttles when a familiar voice filled the comms.

“Did someone call for the cavalry?” It was Jefferson in the Monticello, broadcasting on all frequencies. The other ship had to be the Virginia.

“So nice of you to finally join us, Jefferson.” Alex’s acerbic tone came across the radios.

“So, what did I miss?” as if the man couldn’t see that the Revolution was meeting an enemy ship, barely limping along, and needed help badly. The rest of the conversation was taken off of the non-secure signal, so Lafayette couldn’t hear what else was said.

“Fighting Frenchman. Return to the Launch Bay.” The corporal commanded, no explanation, and Lafayette followed his orders. For some reason there was a huge lump in his stomach.

 

***

 

Hercules awoke to pain, pure and simple. For him, there was nothing else. Pain, pain, and more pain.

He dimly recognized that he was in a med bay. But that wasn’t important, what was important was his body felt like he was on fire. White hot. He remembered the explosion, how had he survived? It almost didn’t matter because of the massive amount of pain. He lay in bed, waiting for the pain to either take him or subside. Neither happened. Didn’t wish this on his worst enemy, he hazily thought.

He didn’t see Eliza next to him, didn’t hear her shoes tapping on the floor as she approached him. She waved to get his attention and began talking, but no sound came from her lips.

Hercules frowned, “I can’t—“

He stopped almost as soon as he began…

Hercules couldn’t hear his own voice.

Panic overrode the pain for a few moments before Eliza was placing a syringe into the IV in his arm and the sedatives began their work, allowing him to drift into painless sleep.

 

***

 

Lafayette couldn’t believe what he saw in front of him. His love, still alive but covered head to toe in burns. Light gauze wrapped him in some places while Bio-Stimulators were set up around his head, arms and upper torso. He could feel sobs preparing to rip through his chest. He had to keep it together, for Hercules.

“Those were the areas damaged the most.” Eliza explained, a soft hand on his arm. “He will have some scarring, mostly on the areas we can’t Stimulate. We just don’t have enough Stimulators… We’re going to try some skin grafts, one of the other bays is growing them right now.”

“That’s fine.” Even to Lafayette, his voice sounded hollow. He didn’t want to ask, but he had to know, “How much pain is he in?”

“None, right now.” Eliza assured him. “When we first got him in, before we got the Stimulators hooked up, he woke up and was in some pain. But we have him sedated; we’ll try to keep him under for the worst part of the healing process.”

“Good.” Lafayette’s shoulders hunched over, he seemed to curl in on himself. He felt broken. Lafayette’s heart was torn in to a million pieces over what Hercules had experienced.

“There is one more thing…” Eliza continued reluctantly. At Lafayette’s agonized look she squeezed his shoulder in sympathy before continuing, pointing at special Bio-Stimulators located on either side of Hercules’ head, “The explosion caused extensive damage to his ear drums, we are going to try and repair them with the Stimulators, but they may be too damaged for the equipment we have on the ship to fix. There are hospitals on Earth that have the technology to rebuild his ear drums, but…”

“We can’t afford to drop him off on the planet, especially while it’s under attack.” Lafayette finished for Eliza. Lafayette fought to keep his hands at his sides, he knew if he brought them up, the second they reached his face he would start sobbing. “Could you give me a minute?”

“Of course.” Eliza, the doctor, took a step to leave but turned around. Elisa, Lafayette and Hercules’ friend, reached out and hugged the tall Frenchman close. “Focus on the silver lining, Laf. He was closest to the blast, and he’s survived. Focus on that.”

She left him then, and Lafayette allowed himself to weep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry… I wish I could say it was going to get better… but I don’t think it will…
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr @immadoathing.


	13. We Will Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ONLY THREE DAYS LEFT TO VOTE ON EITHER RED HEAT OR CALL ME JOHN LAURENS!!!!!!! THE NEXT POST I MAKE WILL BE THE COMPLETE CHAPTER TWO OF THE WINNER AND THEN A MONTH OF JUST THAT FIC!!!!!!! Leave your comments and kudos for which one you want to see and the winner will be posted on January 5th!
> 
> Major onscreen character death in this chapter, summary at the end if you don’t want to read that.
> 
> This chapter was crazy difficult to write… First I couldn’t figure out which section it should start with, then I couldn’t figure out who should be the POV for the big section… (Actually I knew who was going to narrate that part but I was in denial…) Also this is another long one… so… stuff happens.
> 
> Just to put it in perspective, most of my chapters take a day or two to plan out. Sometimes they take a bit longer because the characters decide to do something different than what we have discussed as I write it out, but for the most part they stick to the script and I can actually type out a chapter in a day. 
> 
> This chapter took a full week to plan out and write… It’s where the story needed to go, I'm happy with the writing and the work I put into this, but I'm not happy in general. The chapter wrecked me…

One year. It had been an entire year in space, and seven months at war.

Eliza wasn’t sure how to feel about her longest stretch of time away from her parents and younger siblings. So much had happened. For that matter, she really didn’t know whether her parents and sisters and brothers had survived the initial invasion of Earth. Like with Mars, the initial invasion began with systematic attacks of large cities and more densely populated areas. The Schuylers lived in one of the upstate New York domes.

The domes had been one of the first targets. They were easy. Obviously the rich and powerful resided in them. Take out those in power so that the resistance would be disorganized, lead by the people not used to, or ill equipped to lead.

But still she held out hope that her family had been on a vacation when the invasion fleet attacked the planet. That they hadn’t been in the dome. Or that they were on one of her father’s philanthropic missions.

She was making her rounds and wondered to herself what made her think about the domes and her family, usually she was able to compartmentalize better while at work. Ever since the explosion of Engine 5 two months ago, she had been promoted to supervisor of Med Bay 6.

She smiled as she entered Hercules’s room in the infirmary.

“How are you doing today, Hercules?” she spoke slow enough for Herc to read her lips as well as signed the question. It was a struggle for her to remember all the signs, but not as much as it must be for Hercules. She had learned a little in college and had been taking lessons nightly with Lafayette so that all of his friends would be able to communicate with Hercules once he left the infirmary.

‘Bored to death.’ Hercules signed back. He had actually picked up signing very quickly and had had a talent for reading lips before the explosion. ‘Got anything you need help with?’

“Not, right now,” she replied. Hercules had taken to assisting in small ways around the Med Bay. Anything that didn’t stretch his healing skin was fine, but they still had his legs in Bio-stimulators so he couldn’t move around much.

For the first month after the stimulators came off his arms, he had taken to repairing every uniform on the ship. Eliza had been unsure that he should have taken on any task while he was still recovering; there was too much risk for further damage. He had complained that the risk of him going out of his mind in boredom was much higher. She had stayed her course for two weeks, but he had enlisted the help of the most persuasive person on the ship, at least where Eliza was concerned.

“Just let him do the little hand repairs,” Maria had finally gotten Eliza to agree by bringing the subject into bed with them one night and not letting it go, “It’ll help him get his dexterity back and if he gets tired there isn’t anything stopping him from just putting the work on hold and taking a nap.”

“Fine, but I only want him doing easy repairs.” Eliza acquiesced with an exasperated sigh, when was she ever going to learn to say no to Maria? “And nothing that requires a sewing machine, though. Now can we make a new rule, no work talk in bed?”

Maria had laughingly agreed.

Now, Hercules had worked through all the uniform repairs that the ship had needed. Even being able to weasel his way behind a sewing machine when the easy repairs were finished and Eliza had deemed his arms and back fully healed.

The legs were unfortunately taking longer… The doctors had started out attempting multiple skin grafts, but they had not taken. The wounds had developed an infection that had to be cured before attempting Bio-stimulation. Thankfully, by then they had extra stimulators free for the job. They just needed to wait.

Hercules’ eardrums on the other hand, had not been able to be repaired by the stimulators. They would need to implant bionic replacements, but they had neither the equipment nor the technology on the ship to accomplish the task. So sign language and lip reading were the best alternatives.

Eliza conducted her examination of Hercules’ healing skin and bones. With his age, the breaks were being stubborn.

‘What’s the prognosis?’ Hercules asked.

“You should be able to leave the Med Bay in a day or two. I'm going to switch you to casts to finish the healing for your bones and-”

She was cut off by a mass broadcast from the Invaders.

***

It was the now familiar voice of Samuel Seabury and his customary “I implore the people of this solar system to think rationally. Chaos and Bloodshed are not the solution to this predicament-“ that set Washington on edge every time the Invaders would make a broadcast. They had yet to realize that people like Seabury were the minority of the Terran population. They would never lie down and take subjugation.

He frowned at the screen in front of him, though. The customary backdrop of the throne room on the flagship of the Invader armada was replaced by a very familiar location: the steps of the White House.

“People of the Terran Solar System, we have captured your capitals,” Seabury’s voice was broadcast over the images on the screen as it flickered between Washington DC, Dubai, London, Hong Kong, and every other seat of power on the planet. “We have captured your government officials, and we have captured your home planet.”

The screen came back to the White House and he saw Martha standing with the rest of her Cabinet and some members of Congress. They were being guarded by the Invaders, roughly pushed and prodded like cattle. Washington drank in the sight of his wife, she was thinner, more fatigued than he had ever seen her, but she was just as defiant as she had ever been. He smiled despite himself. _That’s my girl._

“Now is not the time for silly games. Those who oppose The King’s commands shall be put to death. Put down your arms and declare yourselves subjects of The King. The King will take declarations of submission now.” Seabury was obviously expected to go first, as he kneeled before the alien leader, placing his head at the feet of The King and reciting, “I subjugate myself to The King and the mighty Winorian Empire. The Kings command is my law. May The King live on unto eternity.”

The rest of the Invaders in attendance for the broadcast repeated the last in broken English; they had obviously learned the words phonetically. The King just smiled and kicked Seabury out of the way. He gestured to the group of government officials and one by one, the men and women were brought up and made to bow. Some chose to not say the words… they were immediately shot, their bodies were drug off the screen by guards with no sympathy.

Washington forced himself to watch each and every person; he forced himself to remember their names. He remembered one man getting drunk at a Christmas party; another arguing with him on some policy that no longer mattered; the woman who spat at The King’s feet always met Martha for lunch, made sure she ate when he was unable to eat with his wife.

Finally, Martha was brought before The King. She looked him in the eye, head raised she stared down the Invader commander. “You will never take this solar system.”

The guards moved to take the shot. George’s hands tightened on the armrests of the Commander’s Chair, his heart stuttered in his chest. He was proud of her defiance, but knew the inevitable response to her words. However, The King held up a hand, possibly interested in what she had to say? Seabury was slowly translating her words to The King, at the end of the translation he laughed. He said something to Seabury. “The King commands you to continue, it amuses him that you think that anything you can say will make any difference. You are at his mercy, what difference can you make?”

“One person is all it takes, Mr. Seabury.” Martha responded. She looked The King dead in the eye “One person with the right words can inspire millions. My words will inspire the people of this system to fight. We are Terran, and we will fight. Like the Phoenix, we will rise from the ashes of this hardship and we will fight. To the last man, we will fight. To the last woman and child, we will fight. You and your men will not take this solar system. You will not leave this planet alive, King. Because I know my people and WE. WILL. FIGHT!”

Martha’s voice hung in the air for a few seconds before George recognized the sounds of cheers coming from the crew. ‘We. Will. Fight! We. Will. Fight! We. Will. Fight!’ repeated over and over. The sounds of the cheers almost blocked out the gunshot.

Almost.

He watched as The King’s smile shifted to a sneer as he got off of the throne-like chair set up on the steps of the White House. The King pulled a weapon out of a guard’s holster, took two steps and fired. Point-blank. Martha hung in the air for what felt like a lifetime before crumpling to the ground. A strangled sob ripped through George. His world turned upside down.

The broadcast focused on the face of The King, alight with triumph. His words were slow, but clearly English, “Give up, now Terrans. Give up your fruitless fight and bow to The King.”

 

***

There was a knock at his door. George recognized that someone wanted his attention, but couldn’t bring himself to care.

“Sir?” Hamilton’s quiet voice drifted into the room. He stood just inside the doorway, shifting on his feet unsure which was more important, leaving the grieving man alone or continuing the war efforts.

“Hamilton, come in.”

“Sir, the other Generals have all made comms contact. We are ready for you.” Washington nodded once, still staring ahead, his mind refused to process anything. Hamilton let him sit for a few minutes before, “Sir, we have a war to win…”

George couldn’t fathom the effort it would take to continue this war but it wouldn’t matter anyway, Martha was gone. Three words. Martha was gone. It was the first time he had acknowledged it. Three words broke through his lethargy. In a flash, George wanted to shout, rage, go in guns blazing and destroy the enemy. Show them what it was like to loose someone precious to them. He somehow found the strength to straighten his shoulders, stand and follow Hamilton out of the room. “I know, I know.”

The conference room had a large screen across one wall; it was split to show the generals of all of the United Earth System Space Fleet Generals. Each General was calling in from their respective ships except for Jefferson and Madison; they had stayed close to the Revolution since the engine failure and had decided to shuttle over for this meeting. Alex stood by the wall; he would usually take notes for Washington, but not today.

“Thank you, Hamilton.” George said as he took his seat at the head of the conference table. “You are dismissed.”

“Sir?” Alex was about to protest.

“Dismissed, son.” Washington repeated. He did not miss the smug look Jefferson shot Hamilton as the latter muttered 'Im'm not your son.' under his breath and left the room. There was nothing he could do about it; there were more important things to deal with. He began, “Welcome, all.”

“Mr. President.” Jefferson made sure that he was the first of the Generals to use his new title. As the highest-ranking government official still alive and not sworn to servitude to The King, Washington was acting President.

_That will only last as long as this war,_ he swore to himself. He nodded greetings to all the men and women who followed Jefferson with ‘Mr. President’s or ‘Sir’s of their own. “We have much to discuss. First I want to send our fastest ship, the Hermes, to collect as many soldiers that can be spared from the military bases at Ganymede, Calypso Colony, and Scylla Space Station. I want as many boots on the ground as possible on Earth. There are still civilians that need protection. We need to keep as much ground as possible. We cannot loose the planet, men.”

“Are you sure you want to send more men down to the planet?” One of the Generals asked. “Maybe we can negotiate with the invaders and give them a-“

“No. I will not negotiate with these invaders.” Washington cut the man off. “That is our home world. The planet that all life in this solar system originated from. We will not give it to the murderers and enslavers that threaten our way of life.”

Theo’s quiet voice broke the silence after his announcement. “We may not be able to take the planet back, sir. They have better ships, better technology.”

“What would you all have me do?” fighting the urge to rub his temples.

“Madam President Washington, before she… passed, enacted the Phoenix Protocol.” Came Theo’s reply.

“Absolutely not.” George began.

“We have to consider all of our options, Mr. President.” Madison added. “Madam President Washington would not have mentioned it at the end if she did not want to remind us that it was an option. Possibly it was an option she was already considering.”

“I will not condemn the innocent still stuck on Earth to death!” George stood and slammed his fists on the table. “Your orders are to collect as many soldiers as can be spared and send them to Earth. Until such time as you have new information, or any ideas that do not include mass genocide, you are all dismissed.”

The screens blinked to black one by one, leaving only Jefferson, Madison, Theo and Adams still in contact.

“We need to figure out a way to level the playing field, then.” Theo said.

“Yes. Maybe there is a way to cripple their ships?” Jefferson wondered. “We will brainstorm, Mr. President. If you don’t mind?”

Jefferson had just asked the most powerful man in the solar system to leave his own conference room. Washington decided that leaving the room was best for his health. He made his way to the bridge.

***

‘I'm going to get the surgery, Laf. Please don’t try to stop me.’ It was awkward to have an argument with his partner through sign language, but Hercules thought he was holding his own. ‘The General said that I can have a spot on one of the shuttles that are taking soldiers down to the planet. They have the equipment there to give me my hearing back.’

‘It won’t be the miracle cure that you want it to be,’ Laf signed back, angrily. ‘You won’t be able to hear as perfectly as you used to. Why take the risk?’

‘Because, even if it is different, I want to be able to hear you say my name again!’ Hercules let his hands ball into fists at the end of the statement. Even if Lafayette did respond, he wasn’t sure he wanted the conversation to continue.

He saw Lafayette mouth the words “Oh, Hercules, _mon amour_.” But he turned away. His eyes met Peggy’s; she was sitting silently, cross-legged on the couch.

She responded to something Lafayette must have said, speaking and signing at the same time, “No, I will not talk to him. Hercules is a grown man; he can make his own decisions. Besides, I'm new in this relationship, I don’t have much of a say.”

Hercules responded, ‘Of course you have a say.’ Apparently at the same time Lafayette said something along the same lines, because she laughed.

“Come over here so our boyfriend can see you speak, and stop acting like a child, Laf.” Peggy was acting more mature than the men who were at least eight years her senior. The age difference didn’t seem to bother Peggy, but sometimes Hercules wondered if it bothered him.

The relationship had developed strangely. A few flirtations between the three of them when Hercules worked on the Flying Frenchman, a few notes passed like teenagers, a dinner or two. They had realized that their feelings for each other extended past those of friendship and, during a war, things progressed faster than normal. Especially when one of them had had a near death experience. The three of them had been informally dating for a little over two months. She tilted her head a little to the side as Hercules moved to sit down on the couch with her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards him. “I didn’t mean you, dummy.”

‘But I'm a grown man who makes his own decisions, and I decided I want you in my lap.’ Hercules flirted a bit. He knew the conversation wasn’t over, but Lafayette needed a few moments to rationally think through the options.

Their fiery tempered lover settled himself into an armchair watching the exchange. Hercules could tell that Lafayette was mentally going over a number of counter arguments.

‘I want to do this; I want to take the risk. Besides, I’ll be making my way to the West Coast; the Invaders haven’t been able to get that far yet. Once the surgery is over and I’ve recovered, I’ll find a way to get back to the Revolution. And if you’re worried about being alone, you have Peggy now and my permission to whatever you need to while I'm gone.’ It was one of their rules that all three of them were aware of any ‘extracurricular activities’ every time, even if one of them was scheduled to work at the time the other two were having their fun.

“You act like I'm only interested in sex.” Lafayette pouted. Hercules could feel the rumble of his own laughter in his chest, felt Peggy’s as she joined him in his laughter.

‘No, but I just wanted to make it clear.’ Hercules replied. He had to cock his head awkwardly to see Peggy’s response; maybe having her in his lap wasn’t the best position for having a conversation.

“Communication is Key!” She said. “I think that he should go, Laf. There isn’t as much risk as you are building it up in your head. The surgery will take, what? A day? Then Eliza says he will need at least a week of recovery. After that, he could be able to find space aboard a supply shuttle out to any of the Space Fleet Ships and the next time it comes close to the Revolution, the General would probably personally shuttle over to pick him up. At the most, we may be looking at a month without our Teddy Bear.”

He kissed the top of Peggy’s head, looking Lafayette in the eyes, ‘Please, Laf.’

Lafayette sighed, giving up. He finally joined them on the couch, his legs across Peggy’s lap and back against the opposite armrest. “Fine, but I reserve the right to worry every day until you come back.”

His contrary lover had his head tilted back loftily looking at the cieling, exposing his neck as he refused to look at the two of them. Hercules looked at Peggy, she cocked an eyebrow and smiled, and then the two of them were crawling up Lafayette’s chest attacking the expanse of exposed flesh with kisses. “I swear to god if you two leave hickeys…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary:  
> Eliza reminisces about the year since the beginning of this story. Hercules is healing, but his hearing will never come back without surgery to get hearing aids implanted into his ears, but they don’t have the equipment to do that on the ship, so it’s decision time: stay on the ship and be pretty useless but safe, or go to Earth and risk getting the surgery and possibly taken as a slave by the Invaders if the hospital gets attacked. Herc kills time by repairing all the torn uniforms on the ship. Seabury and The King come on the solar system broadcast, they have invaded Washington DC and all the other major cities of political power on Earth and captured all the politicians. They give an ultimatum, bow or die. Madam President stands, delivers a speech filled with defiance, initiates what comes to be called the Phoenix Protocol, and is killed by The King himself. This is all seen from Washington’s perspective. Washington is sworn into office as the last highest-ranking official, the generals discuss Phoenix Protocol. It is discovered that PP is basically the governments/humanities way of saying ‘if I can’t have the planet, no one can’ Washington is not all about that shit. Washington commands as many troops as possible to the planet to combat the invader forces on the ground. Hercules and Laf have an argument about Herc going to get the surgery. Apparently, Peggy is also part of their relationship, the mature part bc the boys are acting like children. She gets them to talk like adults and agree to disagree and they are all cute together. 
> 
> I had to leave this chapter with a little bit of fluff, because whoah………… like I needed something lighter. I'm so sorry about the middle section, guys. It had to happen though…
> 
> I just want to make sure everyone understands that whenever Hercules is in the story, every character is speaking and signing, I'm not sure that is completely clear. I try to reference the signing at least once for each character at the beginning of the conversation and hope that y’all understand that the signing continues throughout the sections he is in. ☺
> 
> I remember when I thought this fic was just going to be something fun and short to get me back into the swing of writing, those were good days…
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr @immadoathing.


	14. If It Takes a War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TONIGHT IS THE LAST NIGHT OF THE CONTEST!!!! WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN AROUND 9 PM EASTERN TIME, TOMORROW!!!! 
> 
> Read my two other fics, Call Me John Laurens and Red Heat and vote by leaving comments and kudos. 
> 
> The winning fic will be worked on exclusively for a month starting tomorrow! 
> 
> 24 hours left!!!!!!
> 
> Read (and vote) like you're running out of time!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TONIGHT IS THE LAST NIGHT OF THE CONTEST!!!! woo hoo!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Really excited to see what happens in the next 24 hours!!!!  
> In other news, I am almost finished writing this fic!!! Working on writing the Epilogue now!!!! 
> 
> Another chapter with an onscreen character death, heads up. But this is one of the secondary characters that I made up, if you’re not too attached to the made up characters you might be able to read it. Skip to the end for a quick summary if you don’t think you can take it.

“There is some kind of interference.” Martha Manning was complaining again. “Everyday, exactly at five o’clock… It’s weird. At first I thought it might be the Invaders catching on to us piggybacking, but it ends after a half an hour or so. Then I thought maybe solar activity messing with the signals? But that wouldn’t be at specific times every day…”

John looked at the screen in front of him; he had noticed that strange interference as well. What could be causing it… He typed in a few commands, no change. “Hmm… see if you can find a hardware error?”

“Already checked. Every wire is in place. I even replaced a few that were starting to fray, they were so old.” Martha continued. Suddenly, she smacked her head, “What if it’s someone trying to contact us from the planet using outdated equipment? They wouldn’t be able to get through to us because the old equipment wouldn’t have alien tech integrated.”

“But how would we know if that’s what it is? How would we find out who is attempting to contact us? Could we open up the channel and make sure to not broadcast anything back?” John asked.

“Would that work?” As one, the two set to work taking down layers of protections and rewriting some barriers so that they could see who was trying to contact them.

Soon the image of two teens filled the console’s screens. One was sitting, tapping away at a keyboard of an ancient computer. He looked to be about seventeen, and was frowning and leaning toward the camera. He tapped the camera a few times, possibly trying to clear the static. They couldn’t hear him, but he said something to the girl standing next to him. John couldn’t tell how old she may be because half of her face was covered in a bandage over her left eye. John thought that she was definitely younger than the boy. She leaned forward and very slowly mouthed ‘Please, answer. Please!’

“Get the General.” John said. When Washington was found and brought to the console, John explained. “For about a week we have been getting interference on this specific channel at exactly 5 pm. We’ve been trying to run diagnostics, but nothing was coming up. Martha had a thought that it may be someone trying to contact us on old Earth tech. We opened the channel as carefully as possible. Right now only video is coming in, we are not broadcasting back, nor are they able to tell that we are seeing them right now.”

It had been almost a half an hour. The boy on the screen checked the time on his watch and said something to the girl. She checked her own watch, her shoulders slumping and she nodded to him. Just as he was about to hit the power key, Washington stated, “Answer them.”

John rapidly entered a command and sound came over the link. The boy was talking as he started to shut down the equipment. “Hey, there’s always tomorrow. Maybe we will be able to get through then? Ninth time’s the charm.”

“This is Gen- President George Washington, you have made contact with the UESSF Revolution.” Both teens stopped what they were doing and turned to the screen in disbelief. “State your business.”

“President Washington?” the boy began, but it was the girl who straightened her shoulders and addressed the General.

“I am Cortlandt Schuyler.” She began. “I am the leader of the freedom fighters on the planet.”

“We’re the Teens Of Liberty!” the boy stated with pride.

Cortlandt rolled her one good eye and put a hand on his shoulder to silence him. “We have been attempting contact with the President of the United Earth System for over a week. Our contact with the members of the late President Washington’s Cabinet was, understandably cut off. We have information that needs to be conveyed to the current President Washington regarding the Phoenix Protocol.”

“Go ahead,” Washington stated.

“All due respect, sir,” Cortlandt stated, “But I'm under orders to only convey this information with visual confirmation of the identity of the current President Washington.”

“We aren’t broadcasting visuals?” Washington asked John.

“Not yet.” John said, tapping out a command.

“Well, it’s good to see you, General/President Washington.” Cortlandt stated after John was finished running the commands.

“Just Washington is fine, young lady.”

“Call me Court, then.”

“Miss Court, the information?” Washington reminded the girl.

“Of course, Sir.” She smiled, “Let me tell you your wife’s plan to get the Terran citizens off of the planet before the Phoenix.”

***

Angelica was a bit annoyed at being called to the bridge on one of her all too infrequent days off. She just wanted to sleep, not do anything crazy, and just sleep for the entire 24 hours. But no, she gets to be woken up by Alexander Hamilton beside himself with excitement and not telling her what was going on or why he was so happy. All she had got from him was “Come to the bridge, this will make your life!”

So she had gotten dressed in the quad room with three empty bunks, both her sisters had moved into couple’s quarters with their significant others. Suddenly, Angelica found herself alone in the once too small room. She sighed and almost wished for her sisters back in her space, but they were happy with their respective partners. She shouldn’t try to ruin that with her own loneliness.

She had trudged to the mess hall nearest her quarters and snagged a protein bar for breakfast and made her way to the bridge. What the hell could have made Alex sound so excited?

Only feet from the bridge, she heard what she thought was a familiar voice, but it couldn’t be. No. Her entire family had been in one of the domes in the initial attack of Earth. None of the younger Schuylers had survived. And if her father had survived, he would have been one of the casualties on Defiance Day, what they were calling Madam President Washington’s final declaration. She had accepted that the three eldest Schuylers were the last ones alive. Angelica turned the corner and stood stock still in the doorway to the bridge.

She physically couldn’t move. She couldn’t comprehend what- no _who_ she was seeing on the bridge’s main screen. She looked a little older, a large bandage wrapped her head, and her voice sounded rougher, but that had to be her baby sister Cortlandt. She was talking to President Washington, discussing something that may have been important, but the most important thing in Angelica’s mind was that she was _alive_!

Peggy bumped into her and pushed her farther into the room. “Hey! Sorry Ange, wasn’t watching where I was going… hey, what’s wrong?”

Angelica could only point at the screen, dumbly. Peggy looked where her sister was pointing and let out a sob that was more of a scream. All activity on the bridge stopped, Cortlandt looked past Washington and made a similar, equally unintelligible noise, a third sob came from the other side of the bridge as Eliza recognized the face on the screen. Suddenly all three sisters were sobbing and the rest of the bridge had erupted into cheers and clapping for the reunion.

Washington smiled and shrugged, he looked a little unsure of himself, “I’m sorry if this is too public a reunion, but I thought it might be good for morale…”

“Its fine, perfectly fine.” Eliza said through her tears, her other sisters nodding in agreement.

“Well, lets get the four of you into a room so you can catch up.” Washington smiled and led the three elder Schuylers out to a small conference room where the feed from the planet had been transferred. He closed the door but before it closed completely he said, “I can give you ladies the rest of the day off, if you need it.”

They forgot to thank him as they began to talk over each other.

“One of us at a time!” Angelica laughed as she tried to hold three conversations at a time. “Courtie, you first. How did you survive?”

“I was on a field trip to the mountains when the invasion hit,” Cortlandt sobered a bit as she retold the last year of her life. “We were studying Old Earth Survival techniques and that is honestly the only reason we survived. The trip was supposed to be for a week but the teacher heard the news over a long-range radio and kept us out in the mountains for months. But when a bunch of us got sick in the winter, we had to go back and get medicine. The teacher gave his life to save us from one of the search parties… He led them away and we were alone for a while. We met a big group of ex-military survivalists around month 9?” She looked past the camera and was supplied with ‘no, less. Probably month 6? Its been more than 4 since then.’ and she nodded and continued, “Its really hard to keep track of time… but they trained us up some. Called us the ‘Teens of Liberty’ jokingly and Josh,” here a teen poked his head into the camera and winked before being pushed away, “the idiot, liked the term and decided to keep it. We’ve been trying to find people not sold to the Invaders to keep them safe, scrounging through abandoned cities, and making life hell for the Invaders ever since.”

“So, Court, you’re in Virginia?” Angelica asked.

“I can’t tell you where I'm at, sis.” Court said with a sad smile, “Its too dangerous, no signal is completely secure. We’re bouncing this transmission off of 24 satellites right now.”

“Are you at least being safe?” Peggy asked, correcting herself at the incredulous look on her sister’s face, “At least as cautious as possible. You can’t take any unnecessary risks, Court.”

“No, mom, I'm not taking unnecessary risks.” Court rolled her eyes, or at least rolled the good eye.

“What happened to your eye?” Eliza, ever the doctor, asked.

“Ah… this… I, ah, didn’t exactly do anything to the eye,” Court deflected but continued at the looks on all three sisters faces. “We went on a raid on Defiance Day, to… Umm… to the White House…”

“You did What?!?!” all three elder Schuylers yelled.

“We needed to get some information and knew that there would be no other chance to get it!” Court squeaked, every inch a 17-year-old. “If there was anyway to do it differently, I would have. But the information was too important. Mrs. Washington needed it passed on to General Washington and don’t regret what I had to do. And the wound is just a laser graze, it hit me a just the right angle that nothing hit the eye. In a few days I’ll be able to take the bandage off and I’ll have a wicked cool scar to show off.”

“Wicked cool…” Angelica was dumbfounded. “There is no way that I can ground you, is there?”

“Well, you’re not our parents, they’re dead.” Court said, her voice hitching, “You are thousands of miles away on a space ship going into danger every day, too. Talk about hypocritical. And I'm the leader of a freedom fighter organization and people are depending on me to lead them. So I’d say no, you can’t ‘ground’ me!” Court slammed her fists onto the table, using the movement to push herself out of her chair and she stalked out of the camera angle.

The boy, Josh leaned in and smiled at the older Schuyler Sisters sadly, “I’ll talk to her. We’re all really happy that you guys are ok out there, though. Oh! We have a call scheduled for next Tuesday, I’ll try to calm her down enough by then and you guys can finish catching up.”

“Thanks.” Angelica said, numbly. Josh waved and cut the transmission, leaving Angelica, Peggy, and Eliza in silence.

***

Lafayette volunteered the Flying Frenchman to assist with ferrying the 1000 soldiers that the Revolution could spare and Hercules down to the planet. It was entirely to be helpful. No other motive whatsoever. None. Not even making sure that he and Peggy got as much time with Hercules as possible before their futures became so uncertain.

He sat in the pilot’s chair, Peggy and Steve at the Gunman positions. Paul was seated to Lafayette’s right. Lafayette wished that he could have kicked the man out of the navigator’s seat and have Hercules there instead, but he was going to have to be content with having Hercules right behind him. The rest of the shuttle was crammed with as many people and supplies that were safe for it to carry.

“Approaching Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Touchdown in 5 minutes.” Paul stated into the comm system. The men and women on the shuttle began to shift getting ready for departure. The Joint Army/ Air Force base in Washington state was not going to be the final station for any of the soldiers setting down from the Revolution, Virginia or Monticello, but the base was far enough away from the front lines that they could safely touch down and leave.

As the soldiers disembarked, Hercules, Lafayette and Peggy hung back. They didn’t say anything; they had said their goodbyes earlier. Lafayette just hugged Hercules and pulled back, tears in his eyes. Peggy came forward for a hug and Hercules chucked her on the chin. As he left the ship, he turned and saw Peggy wrap an arm around Lafayette’s waist. She waved and he signed back at the two of them ‘I’ll be back before you know I'm gone.’

***

 

The return trip to the Revolution should have been uneventful. Peggy just wanted to get back to the quarters she shared with Lafayette and Hercules so she could break down in private. Laf had no such desire, letting tears fall as he piloted the shuttle back to the Revolution, though he made no sound.

“Colonel Payne, contacting the Frenchman, come in Flying Frenchman.” Dolly sounded a bit concerned, “Peggs are you getting the same readings I am? I can’t get my radar to ping anything farther than 50 feet around me…”

“Uh, let me check, Social Graces.” Peggy responded. The colonel had named her ship, she claimed, for what had made her famous since the beginning of the war. Peggy just thought it was the colonel’s tounge-in-cheek way of reminding her men that she was a lady and to watch their language out in the air. “I'm not getting anything, Ma’am.”

“Shut it with the Ma’am, you’re practically a colonel too, just not in charge of a battalion.” Dolly responded.

“Or with the actual rank of colonel which still ranks you above me, Colonel Dolly.” Peggy chuckled; Dolly was never going to adhere to ranking. “You think we should call the Revolution and report the-“

Peggy never finished because suddenly the shuttles from the Revolution were under fire. Lafayette cursed as he began to execute evasive manuvers. Peggy and Steve laying down a layer of cover fire for the other shuttles to retreat, the Flying Frenchman was riding flank and the other shuttles had divested themselves of most of their ammunition for the ferrying mission to make room for more supplies.

“Revolution, this is the Flying Frenchman, we are engaging hostiles on our return trip, requesting assistance.” Paul said, forever collected, into the communication device and began tracking hostiles on his screen.

“Acknowledged, Frenchman. Sending assistance. ETA 20 minutes.”

“WE DON’T HAVE 20, REVOLUTION!” Dolly’s voice came over the open channel, “I'M HIT, GOING DOWN!”

“No, Dolly!” Peggy yelled. “Laf, can we?”

“On it!” Lafayette turned the shuttle but something hit them, knocking them off course. It took a few moments, but soon Laf had them flying straight again.

Peggy turned to ask Steve why he had stopped shooting, only to find him slumped in his seat. “Steve!”

“Stay in your position!” Paul commanded as he moved to see to Steve. Peggy focused on the ship’s systems.

“We are loosing atmo…” Lafayette observed. “Peggy can you configure our shields to concentrate on the breach?”

“That will leave us vulnerable everywhere else…” Peggy said, already imputing the important commands in to the computer system.

“I'm taking us straight back to the Revolution. Dolly is going to have to get help somewhere else.” Lafayette made the required course corrections as Peggy finished the shield recalibration.

It was close, but they made it to the Revolution just before they ran out of air from the slightly leaking hull of their shuttle. They unharnessed themselves and rushed to Steve and Paul’s side. Paul was holding Steve’s side, putting pressure on a hole in the other man’s suit muttering to himself a string of ‘no, stay with me, Steve. Not now. Don’t die!’ but Peggy and Lafayette could already see that Steve wasn’t breathing anymore; he had stopped bleeding as well. Lafayette pulled Paul off of Steve, having to bodily hold the man from returning to the body of their crewmate, and Peggy closed his eyes and made the call into the infirmary.

“Med Bay 2, this is the Flying Frenchman. We have a soldier down. He’s gone…” Peggy could barely raise her voice loud enough to be heard over the comm unit. When her voice broke, she knew she didn’t want to try to finish her sentence so she let it hang there.

“Acknowledged, Flying Frenchman. Sending someone to collect the body.” It was horrible how clinical the doctor on the comm stated it. ‘The body’ as if Steve weren’t living and breathing and laughing only an hour ago…

Paul’s wife, a scientist turned nurse was there to escort Paul back to his quarters when the shuttle finally finished docking. Two other nurses with a stretcher and a white sheet accompanied her. Peggy couldn’t look at them removing Steve from the shuttle, but she stood by Lafayette who seemed determined to see his crewmate off of the shuttle one last time.

In silence the two of them returned to their room. Now empty of Hercules, and hope it seemed.

“Why don’t you get in the shower and I’ll go grab something to eat?” Peggy suggested, turning into Lafayette’s arms as he reached for her. They stood for a few moments; she ignored the stains that were transferring onto her clothes from Lafayette, who had got them from Paul…

“That is a good plan, Ma Belle.” Lafayette responded, turning to the bathroom.

Peggy left for the cafeteria, getting strange looks for the red stains across her front, but ignoring everyone.

***

“MAYDAY! MAYDAY!!! This is the Social Graces I’m hit! My ship is going down!!” Dolly called into her radio. “Is there anyone who can assist?”

“I’m sorry Social Graces, we are still 10 minuets from your position.” Someone from the Revolution responded. “Is there anyway you can steer towards us?”

“Negative Revolution. I have both engines out, no way to steer.” Dolly looked around the cabin of her ship; her gunmen were firing at the enemy ships as they circled the shuttle picking at the distressed shuttle like vultures. The pilot was frantically trying to reboot propulsion systems and get navigation on-line. “Shields at 20%, we can take much more of this…”

“Hang in there, Social Graces.” Came the reply.

“Thanks a lot, wish I had thought of that…” Dolly shut off the comm link. “We’re hosed, boys.”

“Look at the bright side, at least we’ll die on the battlefield in glory.” One of the gunmen crowed as he took down an enemy shuttle that got too close.

“No dying today, lady and gentlemen!” another ship established contact with the Social Graces. “The Cavalry has arrived!”

Three shuttles that went after the invader’s shuttles suddenly overtook the Social Graces. A fourth and fifth shuttles came along either side of Dolly’s shuttle and began leading it back to the waiting ship. From the markings on the shuttles they were going back to the Virginia.

“And may I ask to whom I owe the favor of saving my life and the lives of my men?” Dolly opened the video channel; a smiling, bulky man with onyx skin saluted her.

“General James Madison, if it pleases you, my lady.” His smile was bright and sure of himself, Dolly wasn’t sure if she would rather bring him down a peg or jump on him and kiss him.

“Well thank you for your service, General Madison.” She settled on replying as neutral as possible.

“If it takes a war for us to meet, it will have been worth it, my sunlight.” For the life of her, Dolly couldn’t help but blush.

***

The second Peggy left the room, the full impact of everything up to this point hit Lafayette. The war, the fighting, the explosion, Hercules’s condition, leaving his love alone on the planet, the attack on the return trip, Steve… All the stress that had been building up broke through the glass leaving Lafayette feeling battered and bloody.

He yelled, attacking everything in the room that he could. Anything that wasn’t nailed down was at risk. He pushed everything off the desk, kicked a chair across the room, ripped the blankets off of the bed and shredded them, broke the frame of a painting hanging over the couch, then turned to the shelves across the back wall that held their most precious possessions.

He stopped then. Nothing that he had broken could not be replaced, but here were the things that were sacred. Peggy’s family jewlery (the only things she had brought onto the revolution other than clothes and a little stuffed poodle) and the medals that the two of them had earned aboard the Frenchman, a portrait of his mother and father, Hercules’ knitting needles stuck into a ball of yarn. He reached out to touch the yarn and noticed his hands, bloody and not just from holding Paul back. He had cut himself somehow, across his left palm. His hands shook.

Lafayette methodically made his way to the bathroom, stripped and stepped into the steaming water. He couldn’t bring himself to move more than that, but he let the heat of the water sear away his feelings. His muscles hurt, his hand stung, he could feel the cut still bleeding, he might have to deal with that soon…

“Laf? Honey, are you alright?” Peggy’s voice was barely discernable over the fall of the water. He turned to her and just as his legs gave out, she caught him. Years of strength training helped her to keep him upright as he sobbed into her shoulder. He clung onto her and she let him cry. “Shhhh… I know, I know. It’s all too much, I know.

They stood there until the water went cold and he began to shiver. She took him into the other room then and bundled him up in towels and blankets, bandaged his hand, and curled around him. He still hadn’t stopped crying. His tears only stopped when unconsciousness claimed him.

Unfortunately, that’s when hers began…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary:  
> The tech crew of the Revolution notice some interference and figure out that people are trying to contact them on old Earth tech. Enter Cortlandt Schuyler and the Teens of Liberty. They are mostly teens and college age kids fighting the good fight down on Earth. They have been working with Madam President Washington and have information about getting all the innocent civilians off of the planet before the Phoenix. Happy tears as the Schuylers are kind of reunited. Then teenage angst when the older three try to parent Court, as she is called. Peggy and Laf take Herc down to the planet and say goodbye for an indeterminate amount of time. On the return trip, the shuttles are ambushed and the Flying Frenchman gets hit and gets a hull breach, they barely make it back to ship, but Steve dies. Dolly meets James Madison, they flirt a bit. Madison is smooth AF and gets to pull the line “If it takes a war for us to meet, it will have been worth it.” Laf has a complete breakdown and Peggy does her best to comfort him, and she needs comfort too, but she puts his needs before hers. 
> 
>  
> 
> So I kinda like the idea of maybe following Court’s year since the beginning of the war… maybe a side fic in this universe???? I also have a nice angsty one shot focusing on the development of Alex and John's relationship that I may work on once this is done and I start getting writers block on Read Heat and Call Me John Laurens. Let me know if that’s something you would like to see. 
> 
> Sooooo… happy Schuylers and not so happy Laf, Herc and Peggs… yah……… angst……… I swear things will get better… but maybe not? Ugh… I kinda just want to write something happy next… unfortunately, neither Call Me John Laurens nor Red Heat start out happy……………… why do I do this to myself!!!!!  
> Talk to me on tumblr @immadoathing.


	15. A Little Bit of Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Groundhog Day!!!! Does it feel like I've already posted today? Weird, Deja Vu....
> 
> Back to your regularly scheduled fluff! The last few chapters were so angsty… there still is a little angst in the beginning of this one. But it’s kept at a minimum. I really needed a break from all the sadness before the wrap up of this story. Only three or four more chapters left, Ladies and Gentlemen!  
> I can’t believe that I made it this far!!!! Thanks to my awesome friend who is sort of Beta-ing for me. The reason she is, is so that she can get the chapters earlier, totally selfish, but whatever. I love the girl! Lol She is also the person who puts up with my ‘hey I have an idea’ texts at 1 in the morning, and keeps me motivated when I spend too much time on facebook or snapchat.

They had to think of a plan, they needed to figure out a way to get the civilians off of the planet before they initiated Phoenix Protocol. Preferably one that also got as many of the alien ships back on the plant as well so that they wouldn’t still be fighting 30 odd ships still determined to fight them to the death for this solar system.

There was a slight thumping resonating around the room as Alexander banged his head on the President’s conference table. John had stopped trying to prevent his partner from the activity three hours ago. Alex was going to continue whether he liked it or not, and the best John could do was to place a stack of folders under his love’s target to soften the blows. He continued to bang his head against the table to a muttered litany of, “Stupid brain. No ideas. Can’t think…”

They all felt the same; it was like they had been defeated already. The war wasn’t over, but things were shaping up to look like they were on the loosing side. The President sat at the head of the table hands steepled in front of his face resting his forehead on his pointed fingers. Angelica, the new Head Pilot and Navigator, was sitting back in her chair, arms and legs crossed and frowning. Eliza sat next to her sister, fulfilling her new capacity as the Chief Medical Officer, but she looked exhausted. Knox, Green and Burr sat, mostly impartially and making no comments. Then there was Alex and John and the two final chairs in the room were conspicuously empty.

“Are we sure that there were no survivors in the attack on the Joint Base Lewis-McChord?” John asked, he knew the answer but was hoping for another one this time around.

“Our intelligence says that there are no military slaves taken by the Invaders. Only those who don’t have fighting experience, and of those only the ones who do not try to fight the Invaders are taken as slaves. All others are slain.” Burr responded. If he could express emotions, John would have sworn the other man’s speech was sorrowful. “Hercules would have been one of the fighters whether or not he had the knowledge to do any good.”

John sighed, his heart going out to Peggy and Lafayette. The attack that had taken Steve, the other gunman on their shuttle, had been the beginning of a concentrated strike on the west coast of the United States. It had taken two weeks, but the Invaders had overrun the Joint Base Lewis-McChord and other bases up and down the west coast. There were still pockets of resistance, just like on the east coast, but for all intents and purposes, the United States had fallen. The Frenchman and Schuyler sister had been on leave for the two weeks following the news of the base attack. 

“Any word on how those two are fairing?” Nate asked, looking to the other two Schuylers and John and Alex. 

Surprisingly it was Knox who answered, the grizzled warrior shaking his head sadly. But John remembered that Knox had been grooming Peggy to be his second in command, and the man’s knowledge became a little less strange. “About as well as can be expected, loosing someone you love, on top of a brother in arms as well as Paul’s suicide attempt…”

The other crewmember of the Fighting Frenchman had not taken the loss of Steve and news of the base attack well; he was under 24-hour watch in one of the Med Bays. 

“Maybe we can give the invaders a gift and hide a bomb inside the gift?” Alex finally said looking up and around the room before frowning and shaking his head. “No, they aren’t that conceited or that stupid…”

“Really, Alxander?” Burr sighed.

“I don’t hear you making any suggestions!!!” Alex stood up ready to jump across the table at Burr. John grabbed Alex’s arm and forcefully pulled him down, just as the screen of the comm unit lit up.

“Revolution? Come in Revolution. This is the Teens of Liberty.” Josh’s cocky tone came across the video link with their images, followed by Cortland’s exasperated one.

“You are singlehandedly the reason that name stuck, you know that right?” She had her hands on her hips and was standing just behind the other teen. 

“Hello, Commander Court.” President Washington stated, breaking up what was sure to turn into an argument between the two.

“General, sir.” Court responded. She never used the title of ‘President’ with Washington for some reason. She frowned at her own title added to her name and glared at Josh, last week he had told the President that she was supposed to be referred to as ‘Commander’ and that everyone on the ground used the term for her. Washington had smiled indulgently and had used the title ever since. “We have received more information from the spy in the King’s compound.”

For two weeks, they had been receiving coded messages hidden in some of the clothing being distributed from the compound to Invader bases on the outskirts of Washington DC and the surrounding arias of Virginia and Maryland. The location of the messages was what earned the spy the title of the Tailor’s Apprentice. Finding the coded messages had almost been a fluke, Court and her team had raided the supply train and one of the other teens had complained that they needed heavier jackets. They searched through the supply train and discovered the jackets. One had been obviously badly stitched and fell apart the second that Court had touched it. Inside had been writing in French detailing information like shift changes and where entrances to the compound were. Washington had instructed Court on how to surveil the compound to verify the information. So far, everything had been correct. 

“What does the Apprentice have to say?” Washington asked.

“They want us to get them and the other captives out as soon as possible. And they have found a way to get ship schematics for the alien ships out of the compound.” This announcement was met with a great deal of interest. 

“If we could get their schematics, we might be able to retrofit our engines to increase speed in our own ships.” Angelica said.

“If we could get the schematics for those ships,” John said, “We could create a virus to download on their mainframes that would attack their engines and blow their ships out of the sky.”

Everyone was silent for a moment. The reality of the importance of the information hitting each person. 

“We need that information.” Washington stated.

“How do we get into the compound though?” Nate said.

“You guys leave that to me and my people.” Court said. “With the added information from the Apprentice and our existing knowledge of the surrounding area, we can get in and break the captives out. We just need a distraction big enough to get everyone’s attention and a way to get off the planet.”

“What if we scheduled multiple attacks on compounds all over the world? Get all of the civilians off the plant at the same time?” Aaron asked.

“We could schedule an attack on their ships in space at the same time to cover our shuttles landing and picking up the refugees.” Knox supplied. 

“A coordinated attack in the air could be enough of a distraction.” Washington said. He turned to the young people on the screen. “Get your people ready for a raid, but wait for more information. I need to contact the other generals and schedule an attack.”

“Yes, sir.” Court said with a little salute and her feed was cut.

“Alexander, contact the other Generals.” Washington said. “We have so much work to do.”

 

***

 

After the planning session, Eliza held back to talk to Washington in private. She had an idea that would help morale immensely.

“Dr. Schuyler? Do we have something we need to discuss?” Washington asked.

“Yes, sir. I believe we do.” She pulled up some paperwork on her tablet. “I think we have a problem with morale throughout the space fleet, sir. And I believe I have something that could be an answer for us.”

“I’ve recognized the low morale lately, Doctor.” Washington leaned back in his chair, “What is your solution?”

“Babies, Sir.” Eliza stated bluntly. She continued over the surprised grunt from the General. “My predecessor deemed any reproduction as unnecessary, but I believe it will serve the dual purpose of boosting morale and ensuring our proliferation. Each of the ships is stocked with everything we need to incubate up to 60 fetuses at a time and there have been 49 requests already placed for children on this ship alone. My predecessor dismissed them. But I believe that we could easily accommodate the couples that want children by using the incubation pods, parents wouldn’t be taken out of the duty rosters for more than a day whilst we harvest the needed genetic materials. And there is a way to use gene manipulation to shorten the development of any children that are conceived via the incubation pods…”

“Enough.” Washington held up his hands to stop the onslaught of words tumbling from Eliza. 

“Sir, I think if you deny this, you will be making a great mistake.” Eliza soldiered on.

“Did I Say that I was denying it?” Washington asked. “I think it’s a good idea. The ship needs a little bit of hope. Remind people what we are fighting for. But I want the gene manipulation thing to be completely up to the parents. I can’t force everyone to agree to that or not have a baby. As soon as you can get a team of pediatric doctors together you can start, Doctor.”

Eliza nodded. "Thank you sir.” She saluted the President and let herself out of the room. 

“It’ll be good to have little feet scampering about the ship…” Washington said to the empty room after she had left. He thought of Martha and how much she had wanted a gaggle of children, _Maybe in another life, My Love._

 

***

 

“I think we should at least consider it, John!” Alex was pacing the room they shared together. He was gesticulating wildly making his points emphatically, trying to convince his partner. “We should have a baby!”

“Maybe when this war is over and you marry me, then we can consider it. But I won’t have a child in this mess, Alexander.” John was sitting in the small living room area of their quarters and Alex stopped his pacing to join him on the couch. The announcement that Washington was going to allow couples to have children, provided they used incubation pods so that neither parent would be taken off of active duty, had spread across the fleet like wildfire. 49 children had already been conceived.

“Why do you have to be such a stick in the mud?” he pouted.

“Because one of us needs to be responsible.” He chuckled back.

“I'm responsible!” Alexander exclaimed.

“You frequently forget to eat.” John observed. “And sleep.”

“I need less of it than other people, its cause I'm part alien.” Alex rationalized. He leaned against the other man’s side, pulling John’s arm out of the way and draping it across his own shoulders. “We don’t know when the war will end, and what if one of us doesn’t make it? You would leave one of us alone forever just because we aren’t married already? I want a little boy with green eyes and freckles all over-“

“With pointy little ears and who argues with every word you say, because this child will not be only me, Alexander.” John noticed his slip of the tongue too late. Alex didn’t miss it and John looked down into the most hopeful eyes he had ever seen. He groaned, “Not the puppy dog eyes…”

“You said ‘will’” He sounded so… so breathless, so ecstatic. “John, are you?”

“Only if you promise to marry me the second this war is over, Alexander. I don’t want a kid with two fathers who aren’t together…” John looked down, suddenly getting very scared at the prospect of having a child with Alex. What if something did happen to one of them? Then they would have a reminder of what they had lost, dependent on them every day…

But what if he didn’t do this and he lost Alexander? He would kick himself every second of every day for the rest of his life. He would hate himself for not taking the risk. Being without Alex was more terrifying than anything he could imagine. “Let’s do it.”

Alex surged up to kiss him, a kiss full of passion and joy and hope. 

 

***

 

Eliza was overjoyed to show them around the nursery. She described the process that would occur as soon as they scheduled the genetic harvesting. 

“The first 49 had priority, because they had already put in a request, of course.” She explained. “But I could get you two to the front of the list, if you want?”

“We wouldn’t want to step on any toes.” John began.

“Oh, please. It’s the least I can do! If Alexander hadn’t reminded the Captain of me, I wouldn’t be CMO right now.” Eliza gushed, positively brimming with happiness. “And besides, you two are so close to Lafayette, you’re practically family.”

She ignored the rest of that equation, but the happy smile on her face got significantly less happy.

“Have they-“ Alex asked, receiving a smack from his partner.

“No. I don’t think either of them are ready…” Eliza sighed before snapping herself back into happy mode. “Now there are a lot of things to discuss! Do you want a boy or a girl? Would you like to choose physical traits or just let the chips fall where they may? Would you like your child to experience accelerated development?”

“What’s that?” John asked with a frown.

“We shorten the time it takes for the child to achieve full growth. We shorten 20 years of growing in about 5, although some places shorten growth even more, but that can get a little dangerous if the child isn’t full blood alien. It has the benefits of you both being more likely to see your child grow up if this war continues.” Eliza was a little more sober describing this. “After the child reaches full growth, we give them some gene therapy to slow the aging back down to regular pace. No ill effects. I believe we picked up the technique from the Shairians.”

“Well, we certainly have a lot of decisions to make.” Alex observed. He threw John a mischievous look. “But it’ll be worth it to meet little Hubert.”

“Hubert? No.” John dismissed. Alex had been throwing out the most ridiculous names all afternoon.

“Reginald?”

“Egh, a kid in my first grade was named Reginald, he always would pull everyone’s pants down in the playground.” John shook his head.

“Jonathan?”

“I will not raise John Jr., thank you very much.” Alexander was getting ridiculous. And John was loving it. “How about Phillip?”

“Phillip Hamilton-Laurens…” Alex squinted his eyes. He rolled the name around his head for a few moments. “It’s got a ring to it.”

“My father’s name was Phillip.” Eliza observed.

“Well that settles it!” Alexander clapped both John and Eliza on the back, “Phillip Hamilton-Laurens it is, where’s my cigars?”

“That’s for when the baby is born, Alex dear.” Eliza laughed.

“And you don’t smoke, Love.” John said disapprovingly, but with a huge smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alex and Jo-ohn sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G!   
> First comes love, then come a war.   
> Then comes a baby, need I say more?
> 
> Yah, I'm a five year old… 
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr @immadoathing.


	16. I May Not Live To See Our Glory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here there be lots of action! Killing abounds in this chapter just an fyi!
> 
> Also I would like to point out that the Tinus I know in real life is a sweet adorable man who wouldn’t hurt a fly. He just has a really cool name that I wanted to borrow for this character who’s a bit of a dick.

“Well the last bit of Intel we got from the Tailor’s Apprentice was spot on,” Tinus Fallow said, he was a burly 34 year-old soldier on loan to the Teens of Liberty for the time being. He was also a pompous ass. “I say we act on it right now.”

Cortlandt Schuyler rubbed her temples. Thankful that she could actually reach the left one finally, her bandages had come off two days ago and she had been cleared to do her favorite stress releasing coping mechanism without risk of opening up the wounds. She didn’t want to get into an argument with the older man. She didn’t want to have him talk down to her like a child having a tantrum. She wanted to take his smug, self-superior ass and kick it back to the freaking Monticello. No wonder he had been on the list of soldiers sent to the planet, no wonder he had been kicked off on ‘babysitting duty.’ His words. 

“I am not going to send my people in without more information, Private Fallow. I have to think about all the possibilities; just because some information has been good for the last three weeks, doesn’t mean that this isn’t the Invaders trying to lure in my entire organization.” She said with so much restraint she could feel her voice breaking from holding back the snide comments she wanted to hurl at the man. He had no such compulsions.

“Well I think you should at least tell the President about this, _Commander Schuyler._ ” The mocking tone dripping off of his voice. “We are in a war, if you hadn’t noticed, and we need to take every advantage we can get.”

“I have noticed _Private Fallow_ , and your suggestions have been noted. But there are elements at play that do not concern you,” She cut him off when he opened his mouth to interrupt her. “You are obviously unfit for command, if you weren’t you would have progressed past a Private by now. You would not have been assigned as a liaison between the military and my people if you were fit for anything else, ‘we need to take every advantage we can get’ as you so nicely put it. Your machinations to undermine my command with my people have been noticed, private. So leave the decision-making to the people intelligent enough to make them. You. Are. Dismissed.”

The room was silent. They waited as Private Fallow stared around the room for anyone who would support him; finally he turned and stomped out of the room. Court let out a sigh. 

“You did not just make a friend, girl.” A wizened old soldier in the corner of the conference room chuckled. “You’ll need to watch out for him on your next few ops.”

“I know,” Court frowned. “Would you mind seeing that he is taken off of the rotation for the next few days? After the meeting though, I need someone with military experience here.”

“Of course, Commander.” She rolled her eyes at the title; the only people who used it were the ones who wanted to point out how young she was or the ones who wanted to joke around with her. Everyone knew she hated that the TOL had given her the title. She hated it even more that the General had been told and was actually using the title sincerely. She was not a commander, just a kid with a good head on her shoulders that didn’t panic when bullets started flying. Although the title was neither here nor there, she couldn’t decide which way the old man was using it. 

“Teens of Liberty, this is the Revolution, come in.” the old computer in the corner flicked to life. Josh had been able to rig the device to a projector so that the image of General/President Washington was displayed for everyone to see on the wall behind Court. 

“We read you, Revolution.” Court responded.

“We have taken the information you got us into consideration and believe that we have a plan.” The general began.

***

The plan was actually simple, there was a holiday coming up for the Alien Invaders. The Intel from the Tailor’s Apprentice told them that the Invaders would lock up the slaves for at least 24 hours because they believed that this holiday should only be enjoyed and experienced by their race. The slaves would be locked in central locations that would be easy to target and extract. All over the planet teams of freedom fighters were gearing up to release all of the captives. The plan would only work if the Teens of Liberty and the other teams could infiltrate the invader’s compounds and release the prisoners before The King and his men could respond. Getting out of the compound would be more difficult…

“Is everyone ready?” Court asked her team of infiltrators, also speaking into the short-range walkie-talkie on her shoulder. There were six pens placed around the DC compound, six teams of freedom fighters would be sent in to extract the innocent. “We have 30 minutes to shift change out there. That means we have 35 minutes before we need to be in place.”

The General had decided that preforming the extraction after the guard’s shift change would be the best option. There wouldn’t be anyone coming around the slave pens for hours afterwards, and hopefully the new guards would be lax in their duties because of being at the celebration. 

Court could hear the music filtering across the empty streets around the compound. The aliens had taken over the White House and turned it into the command post for the invasion, but the surrounding buildings were empty. They hid in the last row of buildings before a large swath of rubble that used to be a couple of city blocks around the White House. The buildings had been leveled to create a larger area of free sightlines. 

Soon, they needed to move soon. Josh was at her right elbow, outfitted in old surplus army gear they had scavenged over the last year and a half. She and everyone else on the extraction team were dressed similarly. Josh clapped her shoulder, they took a few seconds to reflect silently and he said quietly, holding up a hand for her to clasp, “I may not live to see our glory,”

“But I will gladly join the fight.” She responded along with a few of the men closest to them. The old call and response a reminder of the people they had already lost, those they might loose, and the purpose of everything they did.

When their timers went off, the team silently made their way across the no man’s land toward the compound. They had ten minutes to get to the base of the wall that surrounded the compound before guards would circle around again, but any noise could alert the Invaders of their presence. So the trek across the rubble was nerve wracking. 

Once at the base of the wall, they found a smaller gate manned only by two guards. Two of the soldiers made quick work of the guards. They left their bodies in the shadows under the wall. They now had five minutes to get to the pens that hopefully, according to their informant, held the Tailor’s Apprentice. Once the civilians were free and headed back to the wall, a smaller group would branch off and follow the spy to where he or she could get the information they needed. 

Court had her weapon at the ready she took point leading her fighters through the compound. She paused every few feet to listen for unexpected guards or revelers who had strayed from the main party. They met no one but there was a moment when one of the fighters knocked into a vase and the entire thing crashed on the floor, causing a huge noise that had everyone on edge.

“Watch what you are doing!” Court whispered furiously back to the group. “We have one minute to the pens, we can’t fuck this up!”

“Sorry, Commmander.” The man said with a smirk. Court recognized that voice, Tinus Fallow. How had he got on their team? How had he been able to leave the base? Fuck, things just got a hell of a lot more dangerous.

“How the fuck are you here? I took you off of the rosters for this op.” Court grabbed the other man by the shirtfront and hauled him to her eye level. He pulled down the goggles that had obscured his face and kept her from recognizing him from the beginning of the op. She was three seconds away from smacking the smug smile off of his face. 

“‘We need to take every advantage we can get,’ commander.” The man’s tone was bordering on treacherous. But he was here already and there was nothing she could do… he was going to risk the operation. 

“Son of a bitch!” She pushed him back into line. She was just going to have to deal with him whenever his inevitable betrayal came. They had a timetable they needed to follow and they were already behind now. “Move on, we are behind schedule.”

Somehow they made it to the pens on time. They watched the guards change shifts and noticed the men who came on were still in the spirit of the holiday. Cheering and singing some song that had significance in their language, they just sounded like they were grunting in tune. The people in the pens huddled together and kept their eyes on the ground, trying not to garner attention to themselves. Court’s stomach twisted to see these people transformed into less than animals. She made herself calm down by directing the fighters to their positions, there were six guards and twelve of them. Two freedom fighters per guard. Hopefully they would be able to take down the Invaders before they raised an alarm. 

The signal came. Explosions rocked the streets of what used to be the Capitol of the United States. The Teens of Liberty, sacrificing buildings that were vacant for the purposes of a distraction, had set the charges. In the air, shuttles and planes flew down raining more chaos on the Invader compound. The Space Fleet, Court knew, was engaging as many Invader ships orbiting the planet as possible. 

Similar efforts were being made across the planet. This would be their only chance to get all the civilians off of the captured planet. Some of the shuttles were already taking people off to ships orbiting Earth; those who weren’t captured were at drop points all over the planet. The shuttles would take them to ships to later be passed on to space colonies or the Moon or Mars installations. 

But Court needed to focus on her team’s part of the plan. Without the information that the Tailor’s Apprentice could get them, they would still have no way to destroy the Invader’s ships. They would be able to deploy Phoenix Protocol, but they would still have to contend with the remaining ships left operating in space. 

The guards came on alert as soon as the explosions began. They didn’t have time to do much more than stand and look around before her people were on them and, in a few seconds the guards were no more. She located the keys to the pens and set to opening the locks. “Who here is the Tailor’s Apprentice? The spy smuggling information out to the resistance?”

A man at the back of the pen stepped forward. He was a beast of a man, stocky and well muscled. She wondered how the Invaders took him in as a slave in the first place? He looked like he was the type to put up a fight. But then she noticed a slate around his neck that he was writing on as he came forward. ‘That’d be me.’ he wrote. The man was deaf, the Invaders would see this as an advantage, a slave who couldn’t hear their plans. But apparently he could read lips.

“Show us where the information is.” Court ordered. She turned to the other captives in the pen. “Follow these men out of the compound. There are shuttles waiting to take you to safety off planet.”

She turned and the small group that had been chosen to continue to the second half of the mission followed her. Tinus somehow weaseled his way to her left elbow, the Apprentice to her right. Josh and another man bringing up their rear. 

They followed the man through the halls of the White House to the oval office. The invaders had taken down some of the walls to create a larger audience chamber, almost like a throne room. There was a small desk at the back of the chamber where an Invader computer sat. She touched the Apprentice’s shoulder and spoke slowly. “Can you operate this?”

He nodded, pulled his slate forward and wrote three letters ‘USB?’ She held up the external hard drive they had brought with them, he took it and plugged it in. The other men of the team arranged themselves to keep an eye out for enemy soldiers who may pass by. The process of copying the information was taking longer than Court felt safe. She wished she could force the computer to transfer the information faster. Outside the audience chamber, they heard the sounds of people running. They were getting closer, she and her men had to get out of there soon. She checked the progress of the transfer, 90%. The sounds were getting closer, she could make out individual voices in the guttural language of the Invaders. 93%. 

“Get ready to fight whatever comes through that door.” She told everyone. “We can’t leave without that information.”

They readied their guns, the Apprentice also had acquired a weapon and he cocked the gun and grinned wolfishly at Court. 95%.

“I may not live to see our glory.” Court intoned to her fighters.

“But I will gladly join the fight.” Josh and the other men replied.

The doors to the chamber burst open and ten guards bore down on them. Court took out the first man to walk through the door a bullet took his eye. Josh dropped another; the other soldier with them took out two, one with a chest shot, the other with a lucky shot to the neck. The Apprentice was a fairly good shot as well, taking out two invaders himself. 96%. Court and Josh got another two and there were only two invaders left, they were hiding around the door way, ducking back and forth to trade shots with the group gathered around the computer. 97%

She realized too late that Tinus had not made a move to defend their position. Josh happened to look to the side just seconds before the disgraced soldier made his move, “Court! Watch out!”

The butt of the soldier’s gun would have landed at the base of her skull, if not breaking her neck it would have knocked her unconscious. As it was, the blow landed on her shoulder blade, hitting a nerve and making her entire right arm numb. Tinus growled and raised the gun again, this time to fire point blank. He had a crazed look in his eye; Court realized that she wouldn’t have time to defend herself. She would have to hope that he didn’t aim to kill.

A roar of fury from by the computer and the blonde soldier was sent flying. He dropped to the ground with the burly spy on top of him, punching him repeatedly until he blacked out. Instantly the Tailor’s Apprentice stopped hitting him, grabbed the traitor and threw him over his shoulder. He checked the progress of the transfer and smiled, 100%. He unplugged the hard drive and passed it off to Court. She took it and turned to order their retreat. However there were still two Invader guards trading bullets with the TOL. One went down, scarlet blossoming on his left shoulder. The last screamed his defiance and began shooting indiscriminately at the freedom fighters. Court wasn’t as good a shot with her left hand but she managed to clip the last man across the face, he wasn’t dead, but he passed out from pain and surprise. She ordered their retreat. 

Just outside the compound the shuttle waited for them. They managed to board and the pilot had the bird in the air before the doors were closed. They shot up into the night air, their assent being followed by enemy fire. 

“You saved me. Thank you.” Court said to the Apprentice. To the men already aboard the shuttle she said, “Lock this man up. He’s a traitor and well on his way to at least a court marshal.”

The men took Tinus in hand and cuffed him to a bench in the back, still unconscious and now moderately less handsome due to the beating he had received from the spy.

“I have a fighter that uses the same kind of hearing modifiers,” she said to the Apprentice, motioning to the small magnetic pads that she saw peaking out of his skin around his ears. “I think she has extras, I’ll see if I can get you some of her extras.”

‘I’d appreciate that.’ He wrote. 

“I'm sorry I don’t know sign language.” She blushed and then winced when she tried to move her right hand to scratch at her head. 

She didn’t notice the pain in the moment, but now that the adrenaline of battle was waning, her body let it’s pains be known. She felt dizzy all of a sudden and noticed a slickness on her side. When Court pulled her hand away it came back bloody. The Apprentice noticed and grunted to get the attention of the other men. Josh was there with the small med kit kept in the shuttles. The spy took the kit form him and began to clean the wound. 

“It doesn’t look too bad, Court.” Josh said. “Just a graze. Must’ve happened when that last one was shooting at us.”

She nodded and leaned back against the wall. She got the attention of the spy who was preparing a needle and thread to stich up the wound. “You mind if I lay down? I'm gonna pass out either way, if I lay down first I won’t have that far to fall.”

The man huffed a laugh but nodded and she was horizontal on the bench that ran the length of the shuttle, head in Josh’s lap. He smoothed some of her sweat-streaked hair from her face and murmured, “Did good, Commander. Did real good.” 

“You’re an idiot.” She replied before drifting between consciousness and sleep for the rest of the trip to the Revolution. She wasn’t even aware of the man stitching her side, just the drifty feeling of having her stress released. A thought occurred to her, they didn’t even know the Apprentice’s real name. The man had saved her life and she didn’t know his name. She tapped the man on the shoulder, “Hey, we don’t even know your name, we’ve just been calling you ‘The Tailor’s Apprentice.’”

The man smiled and huffed his laugh before tying off the stitching on her side and picking up the slate and writing, ‘Ha! I like it, may keep it.’

She laughed too. “But I think I need to know the name of the man that saved my life. If at least so I know what I'm naming my first kid.”

He laughed again. Wrote, ‘You don’t have to, but my name is Hercules Mulligan.’

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HERCULES MULLIGAN!!!!!!!!  
> Tailor spying on the Invader Government 
> 
> I'm getting better at writing longer chapters! At the beginning I thought 1,500 was long. I'm now up to about 3k per chapter! I think one of the Call Me John Laurens Series chapters was up to 4k. Look at me being all articulate. 
> 
> Two more chapters and then the epilogue left. We are gearing up to wind this story down people!!!!
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr @immadoathing.


	17. Impressive Maneuvering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so last fluff chapter before shit hits the fan. 
> 
> Also, I was planning on only having two more chapters after this, the last chapter and the Epilogue…… but this chapter was getting too long. So the next one may be a little short, it may not be short… god knows. I sure as hell don’t. Y’all are gonna get a full 20 chapters. Double what I had planned at the start. The fic is already almost 40k… LOOK AT MY SON!!!!!! I mean monster of a fic…………
> 
> Enjoy this before I drag you through emotional angsty hell.

The shuttle had docked in one of the shuttle hangars of the Revolution, but no one was allowing Court off of the ship until a medic had seen to her injuries. Josh had mentioned that Tinus had aimed for her head and, of course, the lieutenant on the shuttle had called it in.

“One of the refugees had some medical experience and has patched her up a bit, but we don’t know the true extent of her injuries.” The lieutenant had said.

Court growled from her spot on the bench, “He did a damn good job, that’s all you have to say.” 

But the Chief Medical Officer radioed back to inform them that Court was not to move until someone got there to see to her injuries…

That had been thirty minutes ago. Court was fuming.

“Why can’t you just take me off the shuttle on a stretcher?” She demanded the mix of her people and the men and women of the Revolution.

“Orders are orders, Commander.” One of the Revolution men, an engineer, said with a smile; knowing that technically as the leader of a group of freedom fighters, she would outrank him on the ground. However on the ship, she was just a civilian and needed to listen to those who were her superiors. 

The spy, Hercules, had stayed with her and he huffed his breathy laugh at her frustration. His huge hand was on her shoulder and he squeezed it as if to say, listen to your elders. She remembered her promise to him then and thought that there was at least one thing that she could still do. Noticing one of her people in the crowd she called “Laurel, go get Margie and let her know that we need an extra set of her externals.”

The girl ran to complete the request. How she knew where her girlfriend was when the two had been separated since the start of the mission was beyond Court, but Laurel was part Markirain, and her species Mate-Bonded for life. One of the benefits, she knew where the other half of the bond was at all times. Useful, especially in a war. 

A few minutes later, Margie came into the shuttle with Laurel in tow. She smiled and waved at everyone gathered around and signed to Hercules, ‘I'm sorry I only have pink ones…’

‘Anything’s better than nothing.’ Hercules signed back. He attached the externals and sighed, “I gotta tell you, that’s a hell of a lot better.”

A gasp from the doorway of the shuttle and the sound of a bag crashing to the ground, glass breaking and everyone’s attention turned to the doorway. Eliza, Court’s sister stood with her hands over her mouth, tears breaking from her eyes and falling down her face. “Hercules?”

“Hey, Liza.” Hercules smiled at Court’s sister and waved.

Eliza took three strides to the burly man and wrapped her arms around him. Court was shell-shocked, Eliza never touched anyone other than her sisters unless she had to. Eliza pulled back from the hug and pulled her comm device off of her shoulder hitting the send button. “Contact Lafayette and Peggy. Get them down to Docking Bay 2 ASAP! He’s alive.”

She wiped her still crying eyes, hugged Hercules again and said, “We all thought you were dead.”

“I thought so too.” Hercules said, and turned to indicate Court, “But we’ll talk later. The Commander here is getting antsy.”

“It’s a good thing I'm not really hurt, or else I’d be dead with how you got distracted.” Court groused when her sister turned to her. “Is that the way you treat all your patients? Make them wait a half an hour and then ignore them for some long lost friend?”

“Presumed dead, almost brother-in-law.” Eliza said, getting to her task.

_Excuse me, What?_

“Excuse me! What?” Court did a double take

“I didn’t know things had progressed that far myself.” Hercules smiled at Court’s shocked face.

“If I’d known the ‘civilian who’s done a damn good job’ was Hercules, I wouldn’t have had you stay on the ship.” Eliza murmured, checking the wound for good measure. “Its just that stomach wounds can be tricky… didn’t want them moving you if you were a centimeter away from something vital.”

“Well you can see that I'm fine now. Let me get off this damn ship and get some food in me! If you’ve forgotten, I ran an intelligence and civilian rescue op before dawn today.” Court pushed away her sister’s hands and sat up finally. “And while we are eating you can catch me up on all the relationship gossip!”

“Me too.” Hercules said as he looped an arm around Court’s waist to help her off of the ship.

“Well Maria and I are doing well.” Eliza began, “Oh! And Alex and John are having a baby!”

“What?”

“What!”

Court and Hercules were shocked. A baby? Alex and John? They were cut off from talking more by a loud screech echoing off of the walls of the hanger.

“MON AMOUR!!!!!” Lafayette sprinted the length of the hanger and launched himself at Hercules. Court got out of the way just in time as the French man wrapped himself around his partner and began speaking in rapid fire French, showering kisses onto the shorter man. Hercules took it in stride and carried his love toward the doorway, his focus completely on the other man. 

Peggy came around the corner to the hanger then, beginning talking before she was halfway into the space. “I swear to God, Eliza, this better be good. I'm not in the mood-“

She stopped with her mouth still open, seeing Lafayette and Hercules standing just a few feet away from her. Her eyes swelled with tears and her hands came up to her mouth as the tears fell freely. She just stood there for a few moments, silent, shocked. 

Peggy let out a quiet gasp that got the attention of her lovers. They parted a few centimeters and looked to her, eyes shining with joy and tears. Hercules opened an arm for her, but she was rooted to the spot. She couldn’t comprehend it. Hercules was alive!

“Come, Ma Cher. It is him,” Lafayette untangled himself from Hercules just as Peggy finally moved. But she didn’t run to Hercules, she crumpled to the floor. Lafayette caught her and held her up. Hercules joined the other two and their circle was finally complete again.

“Hercules?” Peggy looked up into Hercules’ face like she still didn’t believe he was here, even with the man’s arms wrapped around her and Lafayette.

“I'm here, baby girl.” Hercules said picking her up somehow keeping his arm linked with Lafayette at the same time. He steered them out of the hanger and to their quarters.  “I am never leaving you two again.”

 

***

 

Maria and Eliza were in the room that had once housed all three elder Schuylers and Maria. Angelica had moved Court into one of the empty bunks about .5 seconds after she got off her shift at the helm of the ship.

“I won’t take no for an answer. Until you or I get a serious boyfriend, we are not living apart!” Angelica had announced.

“She has to say ‘serious boyfriend’ because you two and Peggy aren’t married, but you’re off living with your significant others…” Court said to Eliza, the smile on her face belaying her sorrowful tone.

Eliza laughed and squeezed her girlfriend’s waist, leaning into her love. Who was mysteriously stiff… “Something wrong, love?” 

“Oh, nothing.” Maria responded she looked like she was having a fight with herself…

“Really what is it?” Eliza pressed.

“I don’t want to interrupt your reunion with your sister. I can wait for it.” Maria smiled sweetly.

Eliza gave Maria a peck and returned to her conversation with Court. Oblivious to Angelica’s pointed look to Maria.

“If you are waiting for the perfect moment…” Angelica began in a singsong whisper, “Her family is all on the ship. And we all know, well except Court.”

“I know, I know.” Maria responded tense; she needed Angelica to stop talking…

“And her sister’s partner just came back from the dead and I know for a fact that Pegs ain’t coming out of that room for a good two days.” Angelica pressed. “So you really don’t need to wait for all of us to be in the same room. It’s not gonna happen.”

“I know. I know!” 

“Her youngest sister just delivered key information that may help us turn the tide of the war.” Angelica was gripping Maria’s hand over her pocket, where Maria had been hiding something for weeks.

“Other than the fact that we are still at war, this is the best time!” Angelica’s voice rose and Maria was caught in a staring match with her partner’s eldest sister.

“Best time for what?” Eliza asked, the tension between Angelica and Maria was thick enough to cut with a knife. “What’s going on?”

“Maria has something she wants to ask you.” Angelica said with a shit-eating grin as she moved to sit next to her youngest sister and freed the rest of the cabin for Maria and Eliza.

“Love?” Eliza really had no clue what was going on…

“I wanted to wait for the best time to do this,” Maria began, standing up and pacing to the bathroom door and coming back to Eliza. “But I’m starting to think that there will never be the perfect time where everyone we love is here and I’ll be able to get my thoughts just right… and I really wanted to try to get more of our friends here when I did this…”

“Did what?” Eliza laughed and stood; she pulled Maria out of her pacing. She held her hands and squeezed a little in reassurance. “What are you rambling about?”

“I love you more than anything in this life.” Maria coughed and cleared her throat. “From the moment we met I was stunned. I tried everything to get you to notice me and finally, with a little push-“ 

“And a lot of wine.” Eliza cut in.

“And a lot of wine, you told me you like me too. That was almost two years ago. You have made me the happiest woman every day since.” At this moment Court gasped and Angelica clapped her hands over both her mouth and her sister’s, grinning like a fool because Maria dropped to one knee and pulled a ring out of her pocket. “I just want the chance to make you as happy as you make me, for the rest of our lives.”

“Are you proposing?” Eliza asked, not believing what was happening.

“I want to be your wife, Elizabeth Schuyler. I want you to be mine…” Maria held up the ring for Eliza. It was gold, fashioned into a rose with a single diamond in the heart of the petals. Eliza gasped, her hands flying up to cover her mouth. Maria looked panicked, having second thoughts, “Unless you don’t want to get married… I just want to stay with you, is what I'm trying to say. I love you so much. I mean, marriage isn’t for everyone… I’d be just as happy to stay your girlfriend for eternity. But…you know-“

Eliza kneeling with her and leaning in to crash their lips together cut off Maria. They kissed to the squeals and whoops of the other Schuylers in attendance. Eliza pulled back and smiled at Maria, tears running down her face.

“Hush you silly girl. Yes!” She said, pulling Maria in for another kiss. “Yes!”

“I guess that’s become our thing, huh?” Maria asked with a laugh.

“Kissing each other to keep your girlf- fiancé from making a fool of herself?” Angelica whooped, “Yah I’d say that your thing!”

They laughed and hugged and cried, Eliza pulled on the ring and admired the way it looked on her finger. 

“It’s your necklace, Maria!” Maria received a smack to the shoulder from her fiancé. “Why did you sacrifice your necklace for a wedding ring?!”

“You’re worth it, love.” Maria said with a smile. “Worth all that and so much more.”

 

***

 

Peggy was a little miffed that she wasn’t there when Maria proposed. She huffed at her almost sister-in-law, “You couldn’t have waited a little longer?” 

“It took you three four days to resurface!” Angelica came to Maria’s rescue.

“Four good days!” Lafayette purred into Peggy’s neck as he held her from behind. 

Washington had finally broken into their reunion, bellowing that he needed someone to explain the information to the engineers and someone to decode the alien language for the computer techs and he needed Peggy to get back to Knox’s side and help him plan the operation! He’d given them enough time to welcome Hercules home; they had a war to win!

The three had sheepishly extracted themselves from their quarters and gone back to work. However, whenever more than one of them was in a room, there was no keeping their hands off of each other. They kept it discrete as possible out in public, but all three had become clingy to each other. 

Hercules was currently helping the engineers to re-route some broadcast equipment so that they could aim a signal that carried a virus created by the computer techs at specific targets on the Invader’s ships. Hopefully, the virus would be able to overload the engines of the Invader ships and make them explode. 

“Maybe we should be married too, Ma Cher.” Lafayette said into Peggy’s ear, nuzzling his face into the side of her head.

Peggy rolled her eyes. “Of course, right away. You’re forgetting that there is a third person in this relationship and he would probably want some say in our marriage status.”

“He is fine with all of us getting married. We discussed it the last time you were working and we had time alone.” Lafayette continued to nuzzle Peggy.

“Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette, you have got to be joking.” Peggy broke apart from her partner and turned to look at him in the eye.

“Margarita "Peggy" Schuyler, I most certainly am not.” Lafayette replied. “In fact, Hercules and I agreed that the first one of us to find a way to propose was to have their name first in the insane hyphenation that is sure to come from our union. So, Peggy, would you do me the honour of becoming Margarita "Peggy" de La Fayette-Mulligan-Schuyler?”

“Oh my god, the logistics alone of that many names…” Peggy began.

“That is not a yes, Ma Cher.” Lafayette said.

“It’s not a no, either!”  Peggy smiled and wrapped her arms around Lafayette’s neck.

Peggy’s sisters squealed.

Hercules turned the corner into the room and cursed, “The French bastard beat me to it!”

Peggy and Lafayette laughed welcoming him into their hug. 

“Welcome back Mr. La Fayette-Mulligan-Schuyler!”

 

***

 

It was Angelica’s idea to have both weddings at the same time. “One and done. Plus we all probably have work to do and the President wouldn’t appreciate his top staff all taking time on separate days.”

It was practical and Eliza didn’t mind sharing the day with her sister. Sharing like they had all their lives. Angelica was Eliza’s maid of honor, Court was Peggy’s. Alex served as best man for Lafayette and Hercules and John for Maria and Eliza.

“We don’t need two maids of honor, Liz.” Maria laughed.

“I could be the man of honor, if it makes you feel better?” John suggested to Eliza. She shook her head and laughed at the two of them. 

Someone, probably a few members of the Teens of Liberty, had snuck into the Hydroponics lab to steal some of the buds from the flowering vegetables. Little yellow and white blooms sprung from the shirt pockets of Lafayette and Hercules’ nicest button downs and each girl had a small bouquet to carry. 

Maria was wearing a light green dress that set off her tan coloring to perfection. Peggy had a actually brought a white dress in her personal items an was the only one actually in white on her wedding day. Eliza laughed at the teasing she and Maria received from her sisters, as they got ready. She was re-wearing the blue lace dress she had borrowed from Maria for the dinner party. 

“Not exactly what I thought I’d be wearing on my wedding day…” Eliza said to no one in particular. 

“Do you want to look through my things?” Peggy asked immediately.

“Oh no! I love this dress. It’s just that I never imagined getting married in space, in the middle of a war, in a borrowed dress, alongside my sister.” Eliza smoothed the hem of the dress down and smiled fondly. “It’s funny how life turns out, is all I’m saying.”

“I got ‘em!” Josh announced as he burst into the room without knocking. “Engineering just finished them!”

“Have you ever heard of knocking?” Court huffed as he presented Eliza and Peggy with three rings. The first was for Maria, the sisters had banded together and sacrificed some of their family heirlooms to make the rings for their significant others a reality. The diamond and gold earrings and a few of the bangles were easy to part with. Each ring was simple, a circle of gold set with the tiny diamonds that used to be part of the earrings. Each had something special, though. One of the bangles had rubies in it and a large ruby was the centerpiece of Maria’s ring. Hercules got an emerald that had adorned the same bangle. Lafayette had a cluster of some of the larger diamonds in the center of his band. Peggy smiled as she looked at the two bands in her hand.

“Where’s Peggy’s?” Court asked. The band was similar to the other three with diamonds and the centerpiece a small yellow diamond.

“Already with Laf and Herc.” Josh responded.  “What do you take me for, commander? Some fresh faced, green yearling?”

“Stop calling me ‘commander’ the Teens of Liberty are disbanded.” Court shot back.

“Never, commander.” Josh said, leaving the room with a wink. “The Teens of Liberty will always live.”

“I'm gonna kill him one day.” Court mumbled.

“You could just date him and get it over with?” Angelica suggested with a laugh. 

Court huffed and scoffed at the idea, making protests as to why she could never date her former second in command. 

The wedding itself was quick and Spartan. The President officiated. Married first Maria and Eliza and then Peggy, Lafayette and Hercules. Once all the rings were exchanged and the brides and grooms were kissed they celebrated in one of the larger mess halls, a larger group had shown up than anyone expected to celebrate the unions. All of the brides and grooms were well liked on the ship and many people were happy to use the weddings as a distraction for the day. 

When the bouquets were tossed Angelica caught one, Dolley Payne, back from the Virginia with General Madison for the occasion (she had requested the transfer become permanent a few weeks after being rescued by Madison’s ship) caught the second, and the third:

“What if I just caught it to give it to you?” Josh asked Court, grin on his face as he presented the bouquet that he had plucked neatly from the air as Eliza tossed it.

“I’d tell you that you’re full of it, Joshua Smith.” Court said, not fully able to keep a smile off of her face.

“So mean, Cortlandt Schuyler! Maybe I’ll give this to some other girl, one who’ll appreciate my sense of humor and my dashing charm.” He turned to look, making a show of searching for one of the girls who were dancing on the makeshift dance floor. “And my spectacular good looks!”

Court laughed as Angelica pushed her toward the boy and they went to dance. Court tried to hide the smile she had when he presented her the bouquet with a flourish.

Angelica found herself alone again. She was happy for her sisters and their partners, but lonely. She sighed and swayed to the music a bit. A woman next to her smiled and passed her a cup of punch. She asked Angelica, “Bride or groom?”

“Brides, grooms, both.” Angelica replied and sipped the punch. “Two of the brides are my sisters, the grooms and other bride are some of my best friends.”

“Ah, well I guess I'm talking to the right person! You can keep me interested with family stories to blackmail my new family members!” The woman smiled. She saluted Angelica with her drink, and pointed to Lafayette. “My name is Adrienne. I’m a cousin of that oaf. Stationed on the Saratoga.”

The oaf in question was twirling both of his partners making Peggy’s dress swirl around her and Hercules laugh.

“Angelica, Lead Pilot of the Revolution.” Angelica smiled. “They are good for each other.” 

“I hope they get many long years with each other.” Adrienne said, they clinked their glasses in toast to their wishes being fulfilled. “You are the Revolution’s pilot? I have seen her in battle, quite impressive maneuvering.”

Angelica smirked, she got the feeling Adrienne was trying to hit on her. One way to find out. “That’s not the only ‘impressive maneuvering’ I can do.”

Adrienne laughed and placed a delicate hand on Angelica’s arm, “Maybe you can show me some more of your maneuvers sometime?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Poll Time!!!!!
> 
> Who would be interested in a story about Court’s time on the planet while the invasion occurs. It would be another one where I have no idea how long it would be. I'm thinking it’ll be a bit of Red Dawn mixed with other important members of the Revolutionary War, you will definitely get more of President Martha Washington, and I’ll throw in some Ben Franklin for good measure. You would also get bonus scenes of what’s going on on the other ships and the Revolution as well, so it won’t just be about the Teens of Liberty. 
> 
> If anyone is interested leave a comment. I think at least five comments for Court’s story would be good enough for me to seriously start planning the story. I just don’t want to write something that everyone is just gonna be like “wtf is this shit?”
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr @immadoathing.


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